The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is setting up a research center to cover the payment cards business.
An executive director is sought for the center, which is scheduled to be running early next year. The bank already has five researchers focused on the card industry, and it plans to hire another three to five.
Payment cards are of more than passing interest to the Philadelphia bank because its territory, the third Federal Reserve district, includes Delaware, which is a hotbed of credit card activity: It is home to MBNA Corp. and Bank One Corp.'s First USA unit, among other operations.
"There is a lot of change taking place in the industry, a lot of issues that policymakers need to come to grips with, and we want to make sure we're out in front of those issues," said William H. Stone Jr., first vice president and chief operating officer at the Philadelphia Fed. "We want to really stimulate research and writing in this area."
The center will act principally as "a clearing house for research," with the bulk of the work done by people outside the Federal Reserve, Mr. Stone said. Research topics could include the structure of the cards industry, competition, how business cycles affect card issuers, and operational risks for card companies, he added.
The center is planning to maintain a Web site, on which it will post descriptions of research papers, and it eventually could let people download them.
Once a body of research is established, the Federal Reserve plans to hold a conference at which the papers would be presented, Mr. Stone said.
On its own Web site and elsewhere, the bank is advertising for a "payment cards officer" to run the center. The bank said it seeks someone with at least 10 years in the business, with expertise in emerging technologies, and who has contacts with industry leaders and trade associations.
