Innovations, Incentives and Regulation: Forces Shaping the Payments Environment

The Chicago Fed hosted its fifth payments conference entitled, Innovations, Incentives and Regulation: Forces Shaping the Payments Environment, May 18–19, 2005. This conference explored recent trends in the adoption of payment technologies along with the underlying market forces shaping the payments environment. The conference addressed questions such as: What emerging innovations have the greatest potential to improve the payment system? Why have certain payment innovations been successful while others have not? How does the current legal and regulatory framework affect the adoption of efficient payment mechanisms?
- What are the challenges to developing and sustaining winning payment strategies given the current legal and regulatory framework?
- How do differences in regulation among payment instruments promote or inhibit the migration to a more efficient payment system?
- How does competition within payment network industries differ from other industries?
- How do you encourage the adoption of non-cash payment alternatives?
- What are the main opportunities in adopting general purpose cash substitutes?
- Is cost reduction, customer retention, product differentiation or some other factor the main impetus for the emergence of cash substitutes?
- What are the most promising emerging technologies?
- What technological solutions do financial institutions and solution providers offer to improve your payment strategies?
- What are the greatest challenges to implementing more efficient payment solutions?
- How are standard-setting bodies enabling the adoption of electronic payment processes?
- How do payment strategies rank in your overall corporate priorities?
- How do you educate and motivate consumers to use your preferred payment instrument?
- How well are providers and networks supporting your payments strategies?
- What is the most promising emerging payment technology?
- How are you enhancing the efficiency of the check processing network?
- What are your main challenges in increasing your payments volume?
- How will your role change as the payment system evolves?
- Will banks and nonbanks continue to provide differentiated payment products in the future?