It is a pleasure to be here today to discuss the Federal Reserve’s role in the evolving U.S. payments system, a role which is now under careful review. A great deal is going on in the payments industry and, of course, the Federal Reserve is squarely in the middle of the action.
Cases in point are Cyprus and Slovenia. Per capita GDP, expressed in purchasing power parities, is 85% of the EU average in Cyprus and 69% in Slovenia. Those two countries generate a higher per capita GDP than some EU countries. Some of the remaining accession countries lag considerably further behind.