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The plan calls for the implementation of two new same-day settlement windows by March 2018. Fees that banks and credit unions will pay each other to cover the cost of the upgrades have been decreased.
May 19 -
The financial industry and the Federal Reserve are finally on the same page about the U.S. payment system's need for speed. But achieving consensus about what the new system should look like remains a tall order.
March 30 -
Speedier transactions could make a big difference for a wide range of consumers, from hourly workers to patients waiting for medical insurance claims to clear.
March 30
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board Thursday said that it is taking public comment on whether to require member banks to move to same-day payments after an industry group voted to mandate faster payments among the nation's 12,000 financial institutions.
Nacha, a trade group that regulates the decades-old ACH payment system, voted May 19 to require member institutions to accept same-day payments, effectively moving the entire financial system toward a faster payment system. The Fed said its proposal would be to incorporate Nacha changes into its payment rules, making its FedACH Same Day service a mandatory service for member banks rather than an optional one.
"The board believes that these changes may have a significant longer-run effect on the nation's payment system," the notice said. "Specifically, there would be minimal technological and operational investment required by the Reserve Banks to implement the service, and any operating costs can be recovered through fees charged for using the Reserve Banks' ACH services."
The proposal would require receiving depository financial institutions to accept same day ACH from originating depository financial institutions. Fed rules had made same day ACH optional, but the board said that in the years since it has been offered, fewer than 100 institutions opted into the program. A requirement that receiving institutions accept same day payments would offer "clear public benefits" and "enhance the efficiency and integrity of the ACH network and the broader U.S. payment system."
The board will take comment on the proposed changes through July 2.
