The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Tuesday it has hired consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to help assess possible options for enhancing the payments system.
The proposals are due to be submitted next month. They will be published, alongside assessments of the alternatives, in early 2017.
Before that, the proposals will be assessed by the Fed’s Faster Payments Task Force, which was established in 2015 as part of an effort to improve the speed, safety and efficiency of payments.
“The process established by the task force ensures a fair, consistent, and quality assessment of solution proposals, while bringing forward task force members’ comments and diverse perspectives,” says Sean Rodriguez, chairman of the task force, in a statement.
“Importantly, the proposal assessments and the broader task force input are designed to enhance solution designs and help ensure that effective faster payments capabilities are implemented in the United States in a reasonable time frame,” he adds.