Phila. Fed will halt check processing
Citing a decline in the number of paper checks being written, the Federal Reserve announced today that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which had been the Fed's biggest check-processing center, would no longer process checks.
Citing a decline in the number of paper checks being written, the Federal Reserve announced today that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which had been the Fed's biggest check-processing center, would no longer process checks.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland will be the single paper-check processing and adjustments site, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta will be the single electronic-check processing site for the Federal Reserve System, the Fed said in a news release.
The Fed said it expects the changes to be made next year, constituting a move-up in earlier plans to consolidate some operations.
Customers will receive at least 60 days' notice before changes are made, the Fed said, and almost all customers receiving paper checks will get substitute checks, as opposed to the original paper check, during the transition.
With the growing use of debit cards and electronic check payments, the number of checks paid in the United States has fallen 29 percent, from 42 billion in 2001 to 30 billion in 2006, the central bank said.
A resulting staff reduction of about 750 positions could be offset through attrition and reassignments, the Fed said.
