Nineteenproposals for a faster payment system in the U.S. are now being reviewed by twonational task forces put together by the Federal Reserve.

The twotask forces are composed of a combined 500 members, including representatives offinancial institutions, consumer groups, payment service providers, financialtechnology firms, businesses, government agencies and other interested parties.One team will look over faster payment capabilities, with its counterparttasked to study possible improvements for payment system security.

Consultingfirm McKinsey & Co. independently analyzed the proposals first, assessingthem against criteria created by members of the task forces.

The resultsof the task forces' review will be a two-part report, the first part scheduledto come out in January 2017 and the second set for mid-2017. The first reportwill tackle, among other things, the background of the task force and theassessment process for the proposals, and will also identify opportunities forimprovements. The second report will contain a discussion and assessment of thespecific proposals.