•  It has been clarified to banks that payment to the survivor/nominee of a deceased depositor where there is a valid nomination or where the account has been opened with a survivorship clause is a valid discharge of liability provided inter alia it has been made clear to the survivor(s)/nominee that he would be receiving the payment from the bank as a trustee of the legal heirs of the deceased depositor, i.e., such payment to him shall not affect the right or claim which any person may have against the survivor(s)/nominee to whom the payment is made.
2  See Gerdes, Geoffrey R., Jack K. Walton II, May X. Liu, and Darrel W. Parke, "Trends in the Use of Payment Instruments in the United States," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Spring 2005, pp. 180-201. (http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2005/spring05_payment.pdf (149 KB PDF))  3  See, for example, Kroszner, Randall S., "The Effect of Removing Geographic Restrictions on Banking in the United States: Lessons for Europe."