Why Paper Checks Still Matter

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Discussions at the Chicago Payments Symposium showed that paper checks remain an important payment method for small businesses due to organizational inertia and continue to feature in payment industry debates. Despite the rise in check-related fraud, attendees were still discussing how to accelerate real-time payments adoption, while financial institutions also face the modernization dilemma of being reluctant to replace functioning systems. The conference also discussed trust, errors, and accountability when AI agents are used for agentic commerce; related protocols are still under development.