In 1970, some of these arrangements were automated and became the basis for a wire transfer system called the Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS). CHIPS is still the leading clearing and settlement system for large dollar interbank payments (average size of $ million) originating in international trade and finance.
When the Federal Reserve System came on the scene in 1913, one of its early tasks was to eliminate gold transfers and exchange rate differentials between the dollar and gold across the Federal Reserve Districts. The Fed created a “goldwire” system that involved inter-District settlements through the Gold Settlement Fund. This system quickly gave way to a telegraphic system for adjusting reserve balances.