Fed Facts

Uniform Cash Access Policy Coming in May

On May 4, 1998, the Fed's new Uniform Cash Access Policy (UCAP) will take effect. In general, the policy provides free weekly access for up to 10 endpoints per financial institution per Federal Reserve office. Additional endpoints also will be free if minimum shipment sizes are met. Also, more frequent access may be free depending on shipment size. The St. Louis Fed distributed detailed information to all financial institutions, but for more information contact Gladys Butler at (314) 444-8330.

Greenspan's Testimony Available on the Internet

The full text of Alan Greenspan's semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony before Congress is now available on the Internet. To view this testimony, simply visit the Federal Reserve Board's home page at www.federalreserve.gov.

A summary report of the testimony, entitled Monetary Policy Objectives Summary Report of the Federal Reserve Board, will be available on the Internet at the same address. Printed copies of the summary report are available from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis free of charge. For a copy of the printed summary, please call Anne Guthrie at (314) 444-8810 or toll-free at 1-800-333-0810, ext. 8810.

CDC Financial Institution Testing Begins in July

Beginning July 1, 1998, financial institutions can begin testing their software interfaces for Century Date Change (CDC) compliance with Federal Reserve software like Fedline and Bulkdata.

Most Bulkdata users will want to have a test Bulkdata system available to allow them to test with the Fed during the week. Since much of the Fed's test environment availability will be during the week, a test Bulkdata system will allow users to perform CDC testing while still conducting regular business with their production systems. The Fed encourages Bulkdata users to start working on setting this environment up now if they do not currently have a test Bulkdata capability.

For additional information, please contact Jeff Dale at (314) 444-8400 or your account executive.