CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts/Washington, D.C. — In a 1955 speech to a group of investment bankers, then-United States Federal Reserve chairman William McChesney Martin shared a story about an economics professor who always administered the same exam. When asked how any student could possibly fail such a test, the professor replied: 'The questions don't change, but the answers do.'This story remains relevant today, and not just for Martin's successors at the Fed.
But the US is likely to have greater influence over these new payment systems if it were actively involved in developing, building and operating them, as it was in establishing the Swift and Continuous Linked Settlement interbank payment systems.Despite a slow start, America's enormous incumbent advantage should enable it to catch up quickly.