Interest rates, for a variety of reasons mostly outside the realm of monetary policy, have declined substantially since the 1980s.4 This implies that central banks have less conventional policy space when confronted with a recession. In order to provide additional accommodation with policy rates at the effective lower bound, central banks have developed and employed unconventional monetary policy instruments.
The Road Ahead As we proceed with the development of the FedNow Service, we will continue our engagement with a broad set of stakeholders to gain input on desired features and to work with banks and their service providers on preparations to adopt the service.