News

Here is the latest news, announcements, and press releases relative to ACH and the financial industry.

In The News
August 22, 2008 Calling all Photo Enthusiasts! Enter NEACH's Membership Photo Competition. 12 lucky winners will have their photo published in the 2009 Membership Calendar!
August 20, 2008 Tropical Storm Fay - ACH Impact Fed releases list of financial institutions with ACH delays due to Tropical Storm Fay.
August 1, 2008 Second Quarter 2008 ACH Network Statistics ACH Network volume increased by 8.0 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter a year ago, rising to a total of 3,738,929,962 payments. The dollar value of these payments was $7.6 trillion, an increase of 5.2 percent over the 2nd quarter figures for 2007.
July 31, 2008 IAT Effective Date Extended to September 18, 2009 NACHA's Board of Directors has extended the effective date of the International ACH Transaction (IAT) rules and formats for six months, to September 18, 2009. NACHA and the two ACH Operators - the Electronic Payments Network and the Federal Reserve - strongly encourage financial institutions to have all production software implemented by March 20, 2009, the original effective date, and to use the six-month extension for additional process documentation, testing with the ACH Operators, and customer education, training and testing.
July 23, 2008 OCC Allows National Bank Offices Affected by Hurricane Dolly to Close The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued a proclamation allowing national bank offices affected by Hurricane Dolly to close at their discretion.
July 15, 2008 U.S TREASURY RECOGNIZES 12 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AS GO DIRECT® "CHAMPIONS" The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that 12 financial institutions have taken the top spots in a national competition to enroll Social Security check recipients in direct deposit as part of its national Go Direct campaign. The winners were recognized at a Treasury ceremony in Washington, D.C.
July 2, 2008 U.S. Government Accountability Office Recommendations For Making More Federal Benefit Payments Electronic On June 30, 2008, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Federal benefit programs' use of electronic payments, finding that more outreach and other program changes could increase electronic disbursement. The Report results from a congressional request that the GAO assess (1) the extent to which federal benefit programs use electronic payments and factors that agencies consider for their use, and (2) options for increasing the use of electronic payments. The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) is the primary disburser of payments to individuals and businesses on behalf of federal agencies. The GAO conducted its research from April 2007 through June 2008 by, among other things, interviewing various agency officials and consulting with industry groups, including NACHA's Electronic Benefits and Services Council.
June 19, 2008 IAT Training - In Person or Over the Phone 273 days until IAT goes into effect. The NACHA rule and format for international ACH transaction (IAT) becomes effective on March 20, 2009. IAT will enable all U.S. financial institutions to send and receive cross-border ACH payments that can be readily identified and carry remittance information identifying all the parties to the payment.
June 10, 2008 2008 Accredited ACH Professional Exam -- Important Update on Candidate Registration Process Earlier this spring, you should have received in the mail your Authorization to Test for the Accredited ACH Professional (AAP) Exam, which contained specific information on scheduling your appointment with LaserGrade. Since issuing that document, NACHA has become aware of certain database limitations on the part of LaserGrade that currently prevent them from scheduling appointments for AAP testing until later this summer.
May 30, 2008 The Philadelphia Financial Center of FMS has posted the May 2008 Edition of the PFC Journal Inside this Issue: Where's My Refund? A Financial Institution's Guide to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Non-Receipts Most financial institutions have recently received inquiries from their customers about the status of their IRS tax return payments. Properly handling these inquiries on behalf of your customer not only facilitates goodcustomer service, but also prevents many unnecessary Non-Receipt claims from being filed by the IRS.
May 27, 2008 OCC Issues Risk Management Guidance on Payment Processors The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued guidance to national banks specifically directed at performing due diligence, underwriting and monitoring of payment processors that handle payments for telemarketers and other high risk merchants. This guidance supplements existing guidance related to ACH risk management, merchant processing and remotely created checks.
May 23, 2008 Request for Comment: Stop Payment Issues – NACHA Rules and Regulation E The proposed amendments would re-align the NACHA Operating Rules with the requirements of Regulation E. This proposal includes specific modifications to Rules language governing stop payments to re-align it with Regulation E, and has a proposed effective date of September 18, 2009.
May 22, 2008 Treasury Check Verification and Security Features As a result of the Economic Stimulus package, your financial institution will notice an increase of U.S. Treasury checks being presented for payment. The U.S. Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the various security features on U.S. Treasury issued checks that aid in fraud reduction related to alterations and counterfeiting. FMS has implemented a number of security features that enable financial institutions, the Federal Reserve Banks and the U.S. Treasury to detect fraud when checks have been altered or counterfeited thereby reducing losses to your financial institution.
May 20, 2008 First Data's Telecheck Awarded NACHA's 2008 Kevin O'Brien ACH Quality Award NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association awarded its 2008 Kevin O'Brien ACH Quality Award to TeleCheck Services, Inc., a First Data company, for its leadership and contributions to advancing the highest standards of efficiency and ACH Network quality. Mark Wallin, general manager of TeleCheck and First Data's ACH services will accept the award today at NACHA's PAYMENTS 2008 conference in Las Vegas.
May 20, 2008 Peter Yeatrakas Receives NACHA's Lifetime Achievement Award NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association has announced that Peter Yeatrakas, president emeritus (retiring June 2008), Western Payments Alliance (WesPay), will receive its Payments Systems Lifetime Achievement Award at PAYMENTS 2008. Yeatrakas is being recognized for his long career in and contributions to the ACH Network and electronic payments system.