Direct Deposit Coalition Formed; Logo and Web Site Unveiled

New Policy Encourages Compliance with ACH Rules

Lower Electronic Fees and New Price Structures in 1999

New ACH Service Supplements FedEDI Software

Treasury Approves Final EFT 99 Rule

ReserveNotes

Louisville Bids Farewell to
Ron Hadorn; Welcomes Ralph Ising

FedEDI Software Now Available

Lower Electronic Fees and New Price Structures in 1999

In 1999, you will notice several significant changes in the Fed's priced services. Consistent with trends from the past several years, fees for our electronic payment services will continue to decline. In addition, some services now fall into new pricing structures that differ considerably from current levels. Below are highlights of significant price enhancements for some of our services.

ACH--Various originated and received item fees will decrease, reflecting savings from the completion of a five-year project to consolidate the Fed's computer facilities. In addition, the premium item fees and return item surcharges will be eliminated.

Book-Entry Securities--A new structure will be established that splits the transfer fee between the originator and receiver (instead of charging the entire transfer fee to the originator), converts the offline fee to a surcharge and applies the existing account maintenance fee more broadly.

Funds Transfers--A new volume-based fee structure will be implemented that recognizes the scale economies and differences in demand for large-value transfers. The first 2,500 transfers a month will cost $0.34 each. Additional transfers up to 80,000 a month will cost $0.27, and all remaining transactions over 80,000 will cost $0.21. These new prices represent an approximate 30 percent decrease for a Fedwire funds transfer transaction.

Net Settlement--This service will be enhanced to enable financial institutions to submit settlement files to the Fed electronically. The fee structure for the new and existing multilateral settlement services have been revised by introducing a settlement file fee, lowering the per-entry fee, increasing the offline surcharge and introducing a minimum monthly fee.

The new price structures for our book-entry securities and funds transfer services will become effective Feb. 1, 1999. All other price changes started Jan. 1, 1999.

The 1999 price book contains a listing of all our fees. Please contact your customer service representative (listed on back page) to obtain a copy.