Saturday Links

The August Chicago Fed Letter (available here) discusses the current payment methods environment. The letter discusses demographic trends in competing for young adults and other consumers who have been underserved by the financial services industry, the recent trend of mobile payments, the future of cash, and the growing presence of retailers within the payments system.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago named Charles Evans as its new president.  For a brief biography of Mr. Evans see his Biography page on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago site.  For more information and analysis see articles in the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald.

Two leaders in the House Financial Services Committee, Carolyn Maloney and Paul Gillmor, have introduced a bill that would allow consumers to freeze access to their credit reports.  For a brief description of the bill click here.  The text of the bill is not yet available online, but should be soon.  When it is, it should be here.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published an article in its Current Issues in Economics and Finance entitled "Evaluating the Relative Strength of the U.S. Capital Markets."  It discusses the growing concern that U.S. capital markets are losing market share to overseas competitors.