Search Results
Briefing
Has Access to Bank On-Certified Accounts Helped Ease Financial Barriers to Bank Account Ownership?
The share of unbanked households has declined considerably in the United States over the last decade. By introducing a set of national standards for safe, low-cost bank accounts, the Bank On initiative appears to have helped address a key barrier to bank account ownership: the inability to meet the minimum balance required to waive monthly fees.
Briefing
Promoting Payment Inclusion in the United States
In recent decades, entities in both the public and private sectors have worked to promote payment inclusion in the United States, whether by expanding the supply of transaction accounts or boosting consumer demand for them. However, more research and data collection are needed to better define and measure payment inclusion as well as evaluate how effective efforts have been to improve it.
Briefing
Contact and Payment Methods Used for the Top Five Categories of Scams
In recent years, the amount of money U.S. consumers have lost to scams has increased sharply. The contact methods scammers use to reach consumers and the payment methods defrauded consumers use to pay scammers vary depending on the category of scam. However, both the use of social media as a contact method and the use of cryptocurrency, payment apps, and bank transfers as payment methods have increased across the top five scam categories.
Working Paper
Defining Households That Are Underserved in Digital Payment Services
US households that lack digital means of making and receiving payments cannot participate fully in an increasingly digitized economy. Assessing the scope of this problem and addressing it requires a definition of households that are underserved in digital payments. Traditional definitions of households underserved in the banking system—those that are unbanked and those that are underbanked—do not account for the ownership of nonbank transaction accounts that can be used to make and receive digital payments. In this paper, we define households underserved in digital payments by considering ...
Journal Article
Mobile Banking Use and Consumer Readiness to Benefit from Faster Payments
The U.S. payments industry is currently implementing faster payments that will enable consumers and businesses to send and receive payments almost instantly at any time of day, any day of the year. Mobile banking in particular may allow consumers to realize the full benefits of faster payments. As a result, a consumer’s use of mobile banking is a good indicator of their readiness to benefit from faster payments.Fumiko Hayashi and Ying Lei Toh examine which consumer characteristics are associated with mobile banking use as well as what other factors may influence consumer readiness. They ...
Briefing
Are U.S. Consumers Ready to Use Pay-by-Bank at the Point of Sale?
Pay-by-Bank, a direct transfer from individuals’ bank accounts to merchants’, is gaining popularity as a point-of-sale payment method in countries around the world. Although Pay-by-Bank has yet to become available at points of sale in the United States, data suggest that U.S. consumers are increasingly ready to use this method.
Briefing
Assessing the Case for Retail CBDCs: Central Banks’ Considerations
Many central banks around the world have been researching, experimenting, or developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Although central banks in several emerging markets and developing economies have implemented or plan to implement a general-purpose, or retail, CBDC to promote financial inclusion and improve their payment systems, central banks in many advanced economies have not yet found a compelling case for a retail CBDC.
Briefing
How Much Do Nonbank Transaction Accounts Improve Access to Digital Payments for Unbanked Households?
Nonbank transaction accounts—such as prepaid card accounts or accounts with online payment service providers—can help unbanked households make safe and affordable digital payments. But data suggest that they may not be sufficient to achieve digital payments inclusion. Less than half of unbanked households had these accounts in 2021; the rest either used paper-based transaction products or relied solely on cash.
Working Paper
Defining Households That Are Underserved in Digital Payment Services
U.S. households that lack digital means of making and receiving payments cannot participate fully in an increasingly digitized economy. Assessing the scope of this problem and addressing it requires a definition of households that are underserved in digital payments. Traditional definitions of households underserved in the banking system—those that are unbanked and those that are underbanked—are not suitable because they do not account for the ownership of nonbank transaction accounts that can be used to make and receive digital payments. In this paper, we define households underserved in ...
Briefing
Developments of QR Code-Based Mobile Payments in East Asia
Initiatives facilitating QR code-based mobile payments in Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong may address some pain points of banks, nonbanks, and merchants, but whether they address consumers’ depends on factors such as fragmentation and overall digital commerce experience