Negotiable Order of Withdrawal account
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In the United States, a Negotiable Order of Withdrawal account (NOW account) is a deposit account that pays interest, on which checks may be written. In the early 1970's, smaller banks in the Commonwealth of Massachuetts created the Negotiable Order of Withdrawal account to compete with the larger commercial banks. The sesquipedalian name stems from the history of banking in the United States which prohibits interest on checking accounts. Payment law meant that checks were negotiable instruments so some banks sought the permission to allow depositors the ability to issue negotiable withdrawals that can be given to a third party. Once approved, the banks could pay interest because they were not technically checking accounts. Authorized on a national scale in 1981, these accounts typically pay a relatively small return, although some banks offer high-interest NOW accounts in order to attract depositors assets.
NOW accounts are watched by the Fed as a determinant of money movement within an economy. These numbers are posted in the Fed report under M2.
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