Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta: What to watch in 2022

In a blog post entitled “What We’ll Be Watching in 2022,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Risk Forum team breaks down some of the financial aspects to keep an eye out for this upcoming year. Due to a lack of predictability in consumer payment habits in the future, the Retail Payments Risk Forum has announced that instead of making predictions about payments, the group will instead focus more on observing and reporting. According to the blog post, here are some of the areas each member has taken an interest in.

Nancy Donahue: High-speed broadband Internet, 5G, and how these services will affect remote work and schooling.

Claire Greene: QR codes and if their popularity will continue into 2022.

Scarlett Heinbuch: The interaction between cash and digital currencies.

Mary Kepler: Contactless payment methods.

Doug King: The phenomenon of buy now, pay later (BNPL), as well as account-to-account payments.

Dave Lott: E-commerce sales and the interaction with in-person shopping trends.

Catherine Thaliath: Business-to-business payments, accounts payable/accounts receivable automation, paper checks, virtual cards, and digitalization.

Jessica Washington: The innovation of risk and fraud mitigation techniques.

Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker said:

I’m particularly interested in Scarlett Heinbuch’s take on the preservation and usage of cash, and merchant acceptance. She’s noted the rise of digital currency, and she’s watching how cash and digital converge and coexist. Over the past year in the Greater Atlanta metro region I’ve noticed an increase in half dollars in circulation, paid out at gas stations and elsewhere. I’ve talked with store managers. The 50-cent pieces were a response to banking challenges—quarters were in low supply, or non-existent, and it was easier for QuikTrip, for example, to order Kennedy half dollars for its day-to-day cash needs. Some stores began using ‘credit’ receipts to tender change for cash purchases. These are printouts from the cash register, good for the amount of change a customer would have received, if the merchant had enough coins in the till! Brings to mind paper scrip and brass tokens and other money of necessity used in generations past. Something for collectors to keep in mind in the coming years: The legislation for upcoming new coin issues. The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 requires the Federal Reserve System’s board of governors and the secretary of the Treasury to make sure enough coins are available for commerce and for collectors. Some recent coins, like the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial cents, failed as ‘circulating collectibles’ because the Fed didn’t order them, and banks didn’t have them ready for collectors. That shouldn’t be the case for the American Women quarters, the 250th Anniversary of American Independence coins, and others. We’ll see a lot of collectible coins in circulation very soon. This will be a boon for the hobby.

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