Industry experts are understandably wary of predicting what lies ahead for the U.S. check system. However, as we engage in strategic discussions on the future of checks and contemplate investments in check-processing infrastructure, we need to consider how the check system might evolve. Let me take a first step and offer one perspective.
The decline in check use has already caused the Reserve Banks to reduce by half the number of offices at which they process paper checks. In 2003, the Reserve Banks had forty-five checkprocessing offices nationwide, versus the twenty-two they have today and the eighteen that they will have by early 2008.