As a result, the use of electronic payments has doubled over the first half of this decade. From a historical perspective, it is clear that the Federal Reserve has an important role to play in the evolution of the payments system.
Indeed, the Federal Reserve was founded, in part, to address significant problems in the payments system, such as nonpar check collection and financial stability issues that existed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Regulation and technology Turning now to regulation and technology, technological change can create the need for regulatory change.