While some central banks were initially established as government iscal agents (most famously, the Bank of England in 1694; see Clapham 1944), in most cases these institutions were soon drawn into a payments role (Roberds and Velde, 2014). Today, payment systems continue to be a key part of central banking, and central banking remains at the center of payments. Private payment systems are important throughout Europe and North America. Innovative private systems are ubiquitous, from systems for small retail payments, such as PayPal or Square, through large value systems like CHIPS and EU-RO1, and up to the international CLS system. But central bank systems-Fedwire, TARGET, CHAPS, and so on-continue to be the backbone for the rest of payments.