United States Central Bank: Federal Reserve Financial Services; FedCash Services: FedCash® E-Manifest Service paving the path for Cash Visibility in the United States

26/10/2023

United States Central Bank: Federal Reserve Financial Services – FedCash Services

Cash Visibility (CV) in the United States is a multi-year, multi-phase joint industry initiative aimed at bringing greater transparency, resiliency and efficiency to cash supply chain logistics by developing a framework that will identify, track, and share data about cash packages as they move between cash supply chain organizations. Today, the cash supply chain is a largely paper-based operation, reliant on manual data entry, and modernization is needed to bring cash logistics up to speed.

The United States Central Bank: Federal Reserve’s FedCash® E-Manifest Service launched the cash ecosystem’s movement towards CV as it enables financial institutions and currency in transit (CIT) organizations that work directly with the Federal Reserve to electronically exchange data for currency deposits and orders at Fed docks. Leveraging API technology, GS1 common data standards, and the use of scanning technologies with cash shipments, the FedCash E-Manifest Service improves cash handling logistics by reducing manual processes and replacing paper-based manifests with electronic data exchange. Once information is available electronically, industry partners may leverage that information for additional logistical planning purposes within their respective operations. By collaborating with industry partners to establish GS1 data standards as a common language for information exchanges, Cash Visibility and FedCash E-Manifest unlock the ability to electronically communicate across the entire cash ecosystem rather than in limited settings, leading to greater resiliency, efficiency, and collaboration opportunities.

Launched with a press release for broad availability in October 2023, FedCash E-Manifest Service is a free service to aid in catalyzation of the industry.

Robert Bujas, Program Sponsor; Joanna Rothenberg, Program Manager; Jessica Alexander, Project Manager; Pilot and early adopter organizations include CIT partners (2 large and 3 regional), and financial institutions (3 large and 5 mid to small sized) now expanded to almost 500 FI endpoints

United States of America (several EU countries have implemented similar programs using GS1 standards and we share progress and learnings across these countries that use GS1 standards)

The FedCash E-Manifest Service is available to all financial institution customers of Federal Reserve Banks and their servicing CITs, with no service fees from the Federal Reserve.

Benefits of Cash Visibility and the E-Manifest Service include:

• Improved resiliency through greater visibility of package contents and data sharing capabilities.
• Accelerated dock exchanges with CITs using application programming interface (API) technology to validate data exchanges and eliminate paper-based processes.
• More efficient reconciliation, improved controls and loss prevention by leveraging electronic data.
• ’Going green’ by reducing dependency on paper deposit tickets and manifests.
• Future automation opportunities such as expedited reporting and leveraging data for enhanced efficiencies.

Through its FedCash E-Manifest Service, Federal Reserve Financial Services FedCash Services is serving as a leader-catalyst for Cash Visibility in the cash ecosystem. By working with financial institutions, their servicing CITs and technology partners on developing the technological workflows, agreeing on how to use the GS1 US standards, and the platforms to electronically exchange the cash information, CV benefits are being realized and seen in action. Through this collaboration, these industry partners are now developing solutions beyond the Fed docks as greater benefits and wider CV application may be achievable throughout the cash ecosystem.

The FedCash E-Manifest Service has an onboarding and outreach program where the Federal Reserve team provides financial institution customers and their servicing CITs with a step-by-step review of the requirements and offers continual implementation support throughout onboarding. Many of the early adopters of the FedCash E-Manifest Service are also part of the Federal Reserve’s Cash Advisory Council (CAC) and the CAC’s Cash Visibility Subcommittee.

Requirements include the following:

Identification and tracking:

• GS1 Company Prefix to obtain your organization’s unique identifier
• Global Location Number (GLN) to represent your organization’s source location(s) for currency orders and deposits
• Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCC) to identify a cash bag or container and associated data elements

Automation and technology:

• SSCC compliant bags or containers for deposits
• Parameters for scanning equipment (API capability)
• Integration software
• Cellular capability

Discussions with cash partners about the Cash Visibility (CV) concept began as early as 2013. FedCash Services saw the opportunity to take a leader/catalyst role and long-term partnership with industry leadership and convened a CV workgroup with a focus on collaboration and agreement on the use of common data standards and elements that would pave the way for sharing information electronically. In 2022, FedCash Services more tangibly stepped forward as a leader catalyst for Cash Visibility with the FedCash E-Manifest Service in production.

Recognizing that the cash ecosystem has diverse operational practices and no single application would fit the needs of every partner, the FedCash E-Manifest Service uniquely and creatively leveraged widely available API technology and the industry agreed upon GS1 common standards. E-Manifest does not require any specific software or hardware for use as long as partners can access the API, have standard scanning capability, and send/receive electronic information using the common data standards. Currently, there is no requirement to use E-Manifest with the Fed, thereby giving industry partners time to invest and adjust to current standards, according to their organizational needs. As cash supply chain partners modernize and adopt these common data standards, there is greater resiliency, efficiency, and collaboration opportunities in the cash supply chain to share information, including future technology and automation efforts.

The FedCash E-Manifest Service leverages API technology, GS1 common data standards, and the use of scanning technologies with cash shipments, and it provides improvements to cash handling logistics by reducing manual processes and replacing paper-based manifests with electronic manifests. Sharing of cash data electronically can be further leveraged for future planning and coordination across the cash ecosystem to increase resiliency and efficiency.