payments system research brie ng m a r c h 2 0 4 federal reserve bank of kansas city he us has entered new era one that is witnessing marked decline in the use paper checks and sharp increase electronic participants are changing as well nonbanks becoming more prominent moving from background to forefront many activities environment which nancial institutions operate evolving rapidly evidenced by such events wal mart lawsuit against visa mastercard merger first data corporation concord efs inc light changes it important monitor analyze key developments re search department at was established four years ago for this purpose with issue introducing publication will be published three times year focus on variety issues featured articles similar those previously found e files