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Merchants encourage the Fed to collaborate with payments stakeholders when
developing and operating their new real-time payments rail.
MINNEAPOLIS —August 5, 2019 —The Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) applauds the Federal Reserve’s decision to operate a real-time payments and settlement service called the FedNow Service.
Merchants believe it is imperative to have safe and reliable payments in the United States. The Fed’s efforts to develop and operate real-time payments will spur innovation and competition in the industry.
“This new service will bring the nation’s payment infrastructure into the 21st century and allow merchants and banks to settle transactions quickly. In today’s economy, consumers expect to send and receive payments instantly. The Fed’s decision to serve as an operator of real-time payments will create reliability and competition into the critical payment systems within the U.S.,” MAG CEO John Drechny said.
Merchants are eager to learn more about the Fed’s detailed plans to become an operator, and we welcome the opportunity to work together to ensure a more secure, resilient, efficient and equitable payments system.
About the Merchant Advisory Group
The Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) was founded in 2008 by a small visionary group of merchants in the payments field dedicated to driving positive change in payments through multi-stakeholder collaboration. The MAG represents over 140 of the largest U.S. merchants which account for over $3.4 Trillion in annual sales at over 950,000 locations across the U.S. and online. Roughly $2.7 Trillion of those sales and over 73 Billion card payments are electronic which represents approximately 59%* of total U.S. card volume. MAG members employ over 12.5 million associates.
*Source of Total U.S. card volumes: Federal Reserve Payments Study 2016
Merchants believe it is imperative to have safe and reliable payments in the United States. The Fed’s efforts to develop and operate real-time payments will spur innovation and competition in the industry.
“This new service will bring the nation’s payment infrastructure into the 21st century and allow merchants and banks to settle transactions quickly. In today’s economy, consumers expect to send and receive payments instantly. The Fed’s decision to serve as an operator of real-time payments will create reliability and competition into the critical payment systems within the U.S.,” MAG CEO John Drechny said.
Merchants are eager to learn more about the Fed’s detailed plans to become an operator, and we welcome the opportunity to work together to ensure a more secure, resilient, efficient and equitable payments system.
About the Merchant Advisory Group
The Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) was founded in 2008 by a small visionary group of merchants in the payments field dedicated to driving positive change in payments through multi-stakeholder collaboration. The MAG represents over 140 of the largest U.S. merchants which account for over $3.4 Trillion in annual sales at over 950,000 locations across the U.S. and online. Roughly $2.7 Trillion of those sales and over 73 Billion card payments are electronic which represents approximately 59%* of total U.S. card volume. MAG members employ over 12.5 million associates.
*Source of Total U.S. card volumes: Federal Reserve Payments Study 2016
Contact: Beth Provenzano, VP, Public Affairs I 952-928-4648 I Beth.Provenzano@merchantadvisorygroup.org