Let me conclude with some imagery from rural America. In the traditionalist Amish communities of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana known for simple living and for shunning modern technology, whenever there is a need for a new barn to be built, the Amish organize what are called barn raisings. In a barn raising, the community comes together to assist in building their neighbors’ barns, with the understanding that the favor is eventually returned to other members of the community. The barn raising is a showcase of Amish planning, organization, and manual labor and serves as a practical linchpin of the agriculturally-rooted Amish society. However, while the barn raising fulfills a practical need, it also serves to tie the Amish community together by reinforcing Amish society through a very visible expression of the principle of mutual aid.17 In this 100th anniversary year of the first dollar account openings for foreign central banks by the Federal Reserve System of the United States, I can think of no more moving metaphor than this for the benefits that flow from central bank cooperation through the reciprocal provision of account services. Let us work together to preserve it. Thank you for listening. 1 I would like to thank Mark Choi for his assistance in the preparation of these remarks and colleagues in the  Federal Reserve System for their insightful comments and suggestions. 2 A cash account that a bank holds with another bank in a foreign currency. 3 The first Federal Reserve Board was sworn in on August 10, 1914.
Whether for time-sensitive transactions as part of the often intricate choreography of global financial stability operations or for more routine official payments, the insights developed and experiences with the policies, environments, and constraints of other central banks provide the Federal Reserve with enhanced capabilities to formulate and execute policies. The dedication, skill, and expertise of this staff transform on a daily basis the abstract principle of safe, confidential, and reliable service provision into an operational reality. So, to the current and former staff here today, I pay tribute to your service to the global official community, to the Federal Reserve, and to the U.S. You are worthy heirs to the legacy of Benjamin Strong, Montagu Norman, and other early giants of central bank cooperation. The evolving risk environment in cross-border payment operations Even as we hold this commemoration and celebrate the legacy of central bank cooperation in this most tangible of forms, the evolving risk environment in cross-border payment operations requires us as central bankers to continually rededicate ourselves, in word and deed, to the mission of providing safe, confidential, and reliable services to each other. As we are all no doubt aware, risks in cross-border payment operations have undergone major shifts in recent years, with cyber threats in particular emerging as one of the most critical security issues facing our community.