The Reserve Banks' direct involvement in the payments system and ability to facilitate the adoption of standards and practices through their operating circulars also helps the Federal Reserve achieve its broader public policy goals, such as improving the efficiency and smooth functioning of the payments system. Unlike the Federal Reserve Bank obligations under the MCA, private-sector payment providers have a single-sided option.
The Business and Finance Outlook that the OECD is launching today promises to provide analysts and policymakers with an additional tool that offers distinctive but complementary perspectives with respect to other established, useful and time-honoured outlooks and reports, such as the OECD Economic Outlook, on which I spent so many hours over the years in this very location, with colleagues I will always remember with nostalgia and affection.