Recent regulatory and technological changes have spurred the development of automated trading systems known as ECNs, or electronic communications networks. Proponents of the networks contend that ECNs can cut transaction costs, accelerate trade execution, and expand the price information...

The delivery and payment of bills over the Internet could offer many advantages—low processing costs and enhanced marketing opportunities for billers, savings in time and postage for customers. Nevertheless, electronic billing has not found favor with potential users. A lack of coordination...

The buildup of reserves in the U.S. banking system during the financial crisis has fueled concerns that the Federal Reserve's policies may have failed to stimulate the flow of credit in the economy: Banks, it appears, are amassing funds rather than lending them out. However, a careful...

As liquidity conditions in the term funding markets grew increasingly strained in late 2007, the Federal Reserve began making funds available directly to banks through a new tool, the Term Auction Facility (TAF). The TAF provides term funding on a collateralized basis, at interest rates and...