St. Louis Fed Heads Up Payments Study

TIP, PATAX Applications to Replace TT&L

New FR 2046 Form Replaces Fed Funds Report

Mixed Cash Letter Enhancement Will Improve Funds Availability

Revised Guide Helps You Prepare Accurate Deposits

ReserveNotes

Two Fresh Faces Join Customer Service Team

New Check Courier Serves Little Rock and Memphis Zones

Reserve Notes

Little Rock Customers Gain 15 Minutes
for Other Fed Deposits

The Little Rock office is extending its Other Fed forward collection deposit deadline. Starting March 21, customers have until 10:45 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m. to get their separately sorted Other Fed deposits to the Fed. This 15-minute extension gives Little Rock financial institutions a few extra minutes to deposit their cash letters with the Fed. This should be a welcome relief for some financial institutions on heavy volume days.

There is no price change for this extended deadline; however, all deposits arriving at the later time must be preprocessed with the Fed's block control tickets so we can process them promptly. Control tickets are not required if you choose to continue depositing by the 10:30 p.m. deadline. If you have any questions or would like to order block control tickets, contact Kim Peters at (501) 324-8251.

Brochure Summarizes Results of ACH Study

As we've reported previously, last year the Federal Reserve conducted an in-depth study exploring consumer and business attitudes toward direct payment and direct deposit. The findings from this study are now summarized in a booklet the Fed distributed in February.

Among other things, this booklet explores which features are viewed as the biggest benefits and drawbacks of ACH payments, the sources people turn to for information and the types of bills most commonly paid electronically. It also identifies the market segments most apt to try electronic payments.

For a copy, contact Cheryl McCarthy at (314) 444-8459. The complete study results can be found on the Fed's web site at www.stls.frb.org/banking/ach/.

Upcoming Fee for Select Book-Entry Accounts

On July 1, the Fed will start charging a $15 maintenance fee for Circular 154 and joint custody collateral accounts containing either all agency securities, or a combination of agency and Treasury securities held as of the last business day of the month. The fee also will be assessed for each empty collateral account. There will be no chargefor Circular 154 or joint custody collateral accounts that contain only Treasury securities.

To identify the securities in these accounts, you can refer to the Fed's book-entry holding statement, which lists the CUSIPs in each account. Treasury CUSIPs begin with 9 and agency CUSIPs begin with 0-8. Empty accounts are not included in this report.

We have notified the financial institutions affected by this fee. Please also share this information with the individual responsible for securities at your organization to ensure your institution is making any necessary preparations. For more information or to verify which book-entry accounts you have established with the Fed, contact Pat McNamara-Smith in St. Louis at (314) 444-8713.

Reg E Changes for Disputed Transfers

The Fed Board of Governors is making some changes to Regulation E by revising the time periods for investigating alleged errors involving point-of-sale (POS) debit cards, foreign transactions and new electronic funds transfer (EFT) accounts.

For disputes on POS debit card and foreign transactions, the rule requires financial institutions to provisionally credit an account within 10 business days (rather than 20) and leaves in place the 90 calendar-day period to complete the investigation.

This credit deadline is longer for disputed transactions on all new EFT accounts. If claims occur within 30 calendar days after the account is opened, you have 20 business days to resolve the alleged error before you must credit the account and up to 90 days to complete the investigation.

You can make the necessary adjustments to accounts at the end of the investigation period. Compliance with these changes is optional until April 1. There are no rule changes regarding all other EFT transactions, for which you have 10 days to credit the account and 45 days to complete the investigation. If you have questions, contact Flora Armon at (314) 444-8612.

Quicker Reversal Time for "Same-Day" EFTPS Payments

Effective Jan. 1, 1999, the reversaltime for "same-day" tax deposits submitted through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) was shortened from 20 to five business days after transmitting the original transaction.

This change only affects same-day tax deposits, which are sent through your FedLine® software. These are primarily used as backup reporting methods to the "future-day" ACH credit and debit options. The reversal time for all EFTPS payments are now the same.

If you have any questions, please contact the FedLine Help Desk at 1-800-333-0861 and press 1 to speak with an Electronic Access Support representative.

New System Provides Immediate Finality
to Net Settlement

By late March, a new system will be in place that will bring an increased level of automation and security to the net settlement process. The Fed's new system requires no changes on your part.

The primary benefit to financial institutions that participate in clearinghouses and other settlement arrangements is same-day payment finality for settlement entries. Accelerating settlement will reduce the duration of settlement risk for participants in private-sector clearing arrangements.

Participating financial institutions also will receive settlement information more quickly and be able to electronically submit net settlement files by using FedLine® software. As with the old system, multilateral transactions can be settled on a gross or net basis.

These enhancements will combine the immediate finality feature of the current Fedwire-based service with the operational simplicity of the settlement sheet service. If you have any questions, call Jerry McGunnigle at (314) 444-8732.

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