-
The payments company and big-bank trade group plans to create a ubiquitous, real-time payment system over the coming years, supplementing the push for same-day settlement of ACH transactions.
October 22 -
The Fed's hotly-anticipated road map outlining plans to speed up the U.S. payment system will call for the creation of several industry-led task forces and recommend building a new infrastructure to facilitate real-time payments.
October 23 -
If checks, a payment method that's hundreds of years old, can be updated for the Internet age, why can't America's four-decade-old electronic payments system? It's not for lack of trying.
November 13 -
The regional Federal Reserve banks are trying to maintain momentum in their efforts to improve the U.S. payment system.
September 4
The industry group that sets the rules for the automated clearing house network on Tuesday formally offered its
Nacha, a Washington-based trade group, issued a request for comment on its plan to make funds available to consumers by the end of a business day, rather than a day later.
"Same-day ACH clearing and settlement is an essential step to move payments faster," Janet Estep, Nacha's president and chief executive, said in a phone interview.
Nacha, also known as the Electronic Payments Association,
Under the proposal, banks would be mandated to upgrade their systems so they could receive same-day payments.
A flat fee of 8.2 cents per transaction would be paid by the originating banks to the receiving financial institutions, to help recover costs related to technology upgrades, Estep said.
"The goal is really to make sure that the value of ubiquity across the network is realized," she said.
The proposed rule also contains an automatic method for adjusting the interbank fee, based on the volume of transactions. As the number of same-day transactions increases, the interbank fee would decrease.
"We wanted to make sure if volume went out higher than originally projected, there would be a natural mechanism for the fee to be reduced," Estep said.
Mandating a faster settlement period would provide a range of benefits for consumers, Estep said, citing industry research by a third-party consultant hired to evaluate costs to the industry.
Benefits could include providing hourly employees more certainty about when their payroll checks will clear; giving consumers access to expedited bill payments; and allowing businesses to more quickly settle their invoices.
Comments are due Feb. 6.
The Nacha announcement comes ahead of a highly anticipated
That proposal would involve building a faster payment option for a
Estep, Nacha's CEO, emphasized that the two approachesthe Fed's real-time payments proposal and Nacha's same-day settlement rulewould work in tandem to speed up consumer payments.
"Same-day ACH has its place with real-time payments in the United States because they are complementary," Estep said, describing her group's proposed rule as "a foundation for innovation."
Additionally, the Clearing House, a New York trade group and payment company, announced plans in October to
That announcement was important. The trade group, which represents the nation's biggest banks, was
