Fed Works to Improve Payment System

A safe, efficient, secure and broadly accessible U.S. payment system is crucial to the U.S. economy and contributes to the nation's financial stability. As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve has a stake in ensuring that the payment system is functioning at its highest level. This year's annual report of the St. Louis Fed examines a project that the Fed is spearheading to improve the payment system. The essay is written by St. Louis Fed First Vice President David Sapenaro, who recently completed his responsibilities as the project's interim payments strategy director.

In addition, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard discusses the importance of the payment system to the U.S. economy in his column. The report also features an essay on the rising interest in mobile payments, a message from the chairman of the St. Louis Fed's board of directors and the Bank's 2014 financial statements.

To read any or all of the report online, see https://www.stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2014.

FRED App for iOS Has Been Upgraded

Federal Reserve Economic Data (better known as FRED) has once again upgraded its app for the iPhone and iPad. With version 3.0, you can do even more with the numbers behind the economy—and you can do so anywhere and anytime.

The new version of the app includes FRED user accounts, which allow you to share your "favorites," saved graphs and data lists across your devices. Other new features include The FRED Blog, the ability to download data, better graph customization and enhanced search functionality. With location services, you can also receive economic data for your area.

To improve your access to the more than 260,000 data series in FRED, download the FRED Economic Data app from the iTunes Store. There, you will also find a 30-second video preview of the upgraded app. Questions about using v. 3.0? Contact the FRED team at 314-444-FRED (3733) or at webmaster@research.stlouisfed.org.

Android users can download the Android app from Google Play. The Android version has not yet received the same updates as the iOS app, but there are plans for improvements.