FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Sean Oblack
202.649.4629

Washington, DC  – July 14, 2016 – The Clearing House (TCH) today announced it has launched a new blog which will focus on payments issues, bank regulation, and original research and analysis.   The eighteen53 Blog will feature insights and perspectives from TCH’s experienced payments executives, economists, and regulatory lawyers and experts.  Blog posts will focus on TCH’s advocacy efforts related to commercial banking public policy, empirical research on the costs and benefits of bank regulation on the economy, and the future of payments.    

“As a leading payments company and trade association for more than 160 years, we pride ourselves on providing thoughtful and well-informed views on payments and commercial banking issues,” said Jim Aramanda, CEO of The Clearing House.  “This new blog provides us another opportunity to engage in the continuing conversations regarding financial stability, banks’ support for economic growth, and the ongoing revolution in the way payments are made in the U.S.”

The initial posts on the new eighteen53 blog cover a wide range of issues.  TCH’s Deputy General Counsel, Rob Hunter, responds to a recent Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's white paper that is out-of-touch with the work of the banking industry and Federal Reserve’s Faster Payment Task Force to speed up and improve payments in the U.S.  Bill Nelson, TCH’s Chief Economist and Head of Research takes on the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) in providing an overview of a recently released TCH research note that concludes that NSFR is no longer necessary and could result in substantial costs to the economy.  He also posts explaining how paying interest on excess reserves is an important monetary policy tool for the Federal Reserve.  Deputy Head of Research, Francisco Covas counters a recent Bloomberg View column that unfairly compares the CCAR results with NYU Stern’s Volatility Laboratory (V-Lab) model. And lastly, Jeremy Newell, the Association’s General Counsel posts on his recent testimony before the House Financial Services Committee which focused on tradeoffs in using a leverage ratio to assess capital adequacy.

About The Clearing House.  The Clearing House is a banking association and payments company that is owned by the largest commercial banks and dates back to 1853.  The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. owns and operates core payments system infrastructure in the United States and is currently working to modernize that infrastructure by building a new, ubiquitous, real-time payment system.  The Payments Company is the only private-sector ACH and wire operator in the United States, clearing and settling nearly $2 trillion in U.S. dollar payments each day, representing half of all commercial ACH and wire volume.  Its affiliate, The Clearing House Association L.L.C., is a nonpartisan organization that engages in research, analysis, advocacy and litigation focused on financial regulation that supports a safe, sound and competitive banking system.