Tech Bytes: Risk Controls for Small Payments Loosened

The Federal Reserve Board has relaxed a requirement for small-payments clearing systems to comply with risk management controls known as the Lamfalussy standards.

Only privately operated multilateral systems that settle more than $5 billion on any day in a 12-month period will need to fully comply.

The Lamfalussy standards, published in a 1990 report by the Bank for International Settlements, recommends that large-value payment systems should develop risk management controls to let banks in clearing house arrangements settle even if the largest participant failed.

There are several hundred private clearing systems in place for interbank settlement of checks, automated clearing house, and credit card payments.

The $5 billion threshold removes "a potential administrative burden on those smaller systems that are not likely to pose systemic risks," according to the Fed's policy statement, which will become effective Jan. 4.