As you know all too well, many innovations that appear to have great promise fail in the marketplace, while others succeed. The public nature of the Federal Reserve, along with its self-imposed objective of achieving industry average profit margins on each service line, virtually dictates a more conservative approach in the marketplace.
In contrast, a private firm may be more willing to risk the funds of its shareholders in anticipation of achieving significantly higher profit margins. Finally, Federal Reserve Banks lack the flexibility afforded their private-sector competitors to be selective in the customers to which they will provide payment services and in their pricing of those payment services.