Report to the Congress on the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2003

摘要

Section 16 of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2003 (Check 21) directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to study and report on the law's effects on the nation's check-collection system and to assess the need for modifications to the funds-availability requirements established in and pursuant to the Expedited Funds Availability Act (EFAA). To address these issues, the Board conducted an extensive survey of the banking industry and supplemented the resulting data with other information from official and industry sources. For more than a decade, substantial changes have been taking place in the U.S. retail payments system. The number of checks written likely peaked in the mid-1990s and the number of retail electronic payments exceeded the number of check payments for the first time in 2003. The long-term trend toward the use of electronic payments has been prompted by ongoing changes in technology, markets, and the payments system. Although a large number of checks are still being written in the United States, the banking industry is continuing to discuss the likely prospect of a long-term decline in the use of paper checks and its implications for the check-collection system. A series of regulatory and industry changes are also reducing the number of checks being collected as businesses and governmental entities convert paper checks into electronic funds transfers that are cleared and settled through the automated clearing house (ACH) or card system networks (a process known as 'check conversion'). Finally, Check 21 is facilitating the greater use of technology within the check-collection system, increasingly transforming how banks collect paper checks.