Recommendation 4: Establish an inclusive directory work group to identify and recommend a directory design for solutions to interoperate in the faster payments system.
The Faster Payments Task Force calls for identification and development of an appropriate design for directory services that allows payers to send payments across faster payments solutions by using a non-Personally Identifiable Information (PII) identifier (alias).
Detail:
The task force believes that the development of a model design for directory services is important to achieving the core ecosystem goal of interoperability. Recognizing there are a number of directory services currently in existence or being developed, the task force believes that a federated directory model (where a set of directories are connected such that a search of multiple directories can be undertaken to retrieve the information necessary to route the payment) may be an effective way to achieve interoperability between faster payments solutions in a timely manner. The outcomes to be achieved by this recommendation are:
The task force recommends that the directory services model incorporate attributes of the task force’s Effectiveness Criteria for “Safety and Security” (S.1-S.11), including “End-User Data protection” (S.9) to prevent the unintended exposure of end-user data; “Security controls” (S.7) requiring controls to foster security of confidential, private, and sensitive data; and “End-User/Provider Authentication” (S.10) requiring robust identification and verification for enrolling and transacting with end users and service providers to help mitigate fraudulent and erroneous payments.
Steps to advance this recommendation
The task force recognizes that work needs to commence on this recommendation as soon as possible upon publication of this Final Report. Accordingly, the task force asks the Federal Reserve to call for volunteers from the payments community and facilitate formation of an inclusive informal directory work group to identify and complete necessary groundwork, including to:
This groundwork could be passed on to a group within the governance framework once it is established. It is important to note that the informal directory work group will not be bringing forward any recommendations or decisions.
Who
The informal directory work group will identify and complete necessary groundwork for this recommendation, and the task force asks the Federal Reserve to facilitate the formation of this inclusive informal directory work group. Once a governance framework is developed, this recommendation would become a formal responsibility of a group under that framework (see Recommendation 1).
Timing
The task force recommends the informal directory work group identify and complete necessary groundwork as soon as possible upon publication of this Final Report. Once a governance framework is established, this recommendation would become a formal responsibility of a group under that framework and that group would have responsibility to recommend a commercially viable model of directory services.