The 2016 Federal Reserve Payments Study, published Dec. 22, 2016, found continued growth in all types of noncash transactions, particularly in credit and debit card payments. The report, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, includes three separate studies: The 2016 Depository and Financial Institutions Payments Survey (DFIPS) and the 2016 Check Sample Survey (CSS), both conducted by McKinsey & Co., and the 2016 Networks, Processors and Issuers Payments Surveys (NPIPS) conducted by Blueflame Consulting LLC.
The Fed thanked numerous industry stakeholders who responded to its request for public commentary. "Payment industry participation drives the quality of the study's results," said Mary Kepler, Director and Senior Vice President of the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. "The Federal Reserve appreciates the industry's response in 2016 and looks forward to working with selected participants for the annual data collection getting underway in the first quarter of 2017." Increasing fraud monitoring, detection The dynamic nature of the evolving threat landscape prompted the Fed to increase both the frequency and thoroughness of its surveys. Previously collected every three years, survey data will be collected annually starting in 2017, representatives stated. The Fed hopes these efforts will help payments industry stakeholders mitigate fraud.
"To help characterize fraud in the payments system with more specificity, the 2016 study collected information on payment fraud reported by fraud type by general-purpose card networks along with information about the rollout of embedded microchips in payment cards that is intended to help combat card fraud," report authors wrote.
Kepler said the increased frequency and thoroughness of research "reflects an increased desire within the payments industry for additional fraud-related information."
She noted that a limited amount of fraud-related information was available when the report was published, adding, "further results will be released in 2017 as the complete data set is more fully reviewed and analyzed."
The report cited six common forms of fraudulent payment card transactions, initiated in-person or remotely:
Researchers expressed optimism that U.S. adoption of EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) technologies will stem the tide of in-person fraud, as it has in other countries.
"While the balance of card fraud in the United States is weighted toward in-person fraud, fraud in other countries is highly skewed toward remote fraud," the authors wrote. "Reports from leading [chip-adopting] countries have cited declining counterfeit fraud accompanying rising chip adoption, and a similar effect may be observed in the United States in coming years."
The study found an estimated 144 billion in U.S. noncash payments, reflecting an annual increase of 5.3 percent since 2012. Noncash transactions increased 3.4 percent to nearly $178 trillion, largely due to increasing acceptance of credit and debit card payments and adoption of new mobile and virtual payment schemes, researchers noted.
"Taken together, debit cards (including prepaid and non-prepaid cards), credit cards, ACH credit transfers, ACH debit transfers, and checks compose a core set of noncash payment types commonly used today by consumers and businesses in the United States," the authors wrote. "These core noncash payment types are used both in traditional ways, such as in-person purchases, payroll deposits, and bill payments, and in relatively new ways, such as mobile payments, e-commerce payments, and online bill payments."
For additional highlights and insights pertaining to the 2016 Federal Reserve Payments Study, see "Fed updates payments data," by Patti Murphy, in this issue's Views section (The Green Sheet, Jan. 9, 2017, issue 17:01:01)
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