On July 30, 2008, NACHA’s Board of Directors approved a Policy Statement on Direct Access. This policy addresses the importance of Originating Depository Financial Institutions (ODFIs) registering with NACHA their direct access relationships for ACH debit transactions, and following prudent risk management techniques including adherence to best practices for the duration of these relationships.  The NACHA Board of Directors expects that ODFIs will register their direct access relationships with NACHA, allowing NACHA to better quantify the number of, and the risk profile for, direct access relationships.  NACHA will work with the ACH Operators to validate that financial institutions have registered all direct access relationships.

 

NACHA has established a secure website for ODFIs that includes the forms to complete the registration process. Financial institutions are required, during an initial six-week period from Septe ...

NACHA released ballot Ref. 5-08 to the NACHA Voting Membership on September 8. These changes are categorized as CAtegory C changes (Minor Impact to the Rules).

To read more and learn more about the ballot please click here (members only).

   

Source: http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2008/sa08192.html

Fidelity Bank, Wichita, Kansas, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit cashier's checks bearing the institution's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 301171353, which is assigned to Fidelity Bank. The items are similar to some of the bank's authentic cashier's checks; however, the counterfeit items show a telephone number beginning with area code "(406)" after the zip code and have only one signature line.

Authentic checks from Fidelity Bank are issued in two forms. The first check displays a "NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS" above two signature lines. The bank's local telephone number, which begins with ...

More than Three-Fourths of Online Americans Bank and Pay Bills Online

Fiserv survey finds more households pay bills online than paper checks for second consecutive year

BROOKFIELD, Wis., Aug 27, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- More Americans than ever, an estimated 63.1 million households or three-fourth of those online, are paying their bills online rather than writing paper checks, according to a survey sponsored by CheckFree, now part of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV) a leading provider of information technology services to the financial industry. The 2008 Consumer Banking and Bill Payment Survey, the eighth conducted by CheckFree since 2002, highlights Americans' growing use of online banking and bill payment services to help manage their personal finances.

The survey indicates that consumers are more confident about online security as more Americans are gaining experie ...

TOWERGROUP: U.S. FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL SPEND OVER $1 BILLION ON ONLINE BILL PAYMENT SOLUTIONS BY 2010


NEEDHAM, MA, August 26, 2008 - Online bill payment has grown to become an integral part of financial services institutions’ Internet banking offerings. New research from TowerGroup finds that expediting payments by speeding the posting time of bill payment transactions can create a new revenue stream for financial institutions – via instituting an online bill payment user per transaction fee to guarantee same-day posting.

TowerGroup estimates that nearly 24 million consumers are currently active users of online banking bill payment in the U.S., and that the volume of online bill payments will reach 3.87 billion transactions by 2012. However, the success of online bill pay has also increased delivery and support costs for financial services institutions.

NACHA Risk Alert: Notification of ACH Data Breach Incident

An ODFI in Green Bay, WI has informed NACHA of a breach of consumer-level data in accordance with NACHA’s Interim Policy on ACH Data Breach Notification Requirements.  NACHA has provided both ACH Operators a list of affected RDFI routing numbers and contact information of the designated ODFI security representative for communications to RDFIs. The ACH Operators will follow their respective procedures to notify their ACH services customers.

This particular incident involves keylogging and is reportedly limited in its scope. However, the ODFI reported that (1) the breached data contains the consumer name, account number and routing number; and (2) they were not successful in communicating with all affected RDFIs.

ACH Data Bre ...

Second Quarter 2008 ACH Network Statistics

ACH Payments up 8.0 Percent in 2nd Quarter 2008
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. 

 
Commercial ACH volume accounted for 91.5 percent of transactions, or 3,420,733,437 payments.  Federal government ACH volume was 318,196,525, which includes tax refunds and economic stimulus payments. 

 
The largest growth rate occurred in Internet-initiated entries (WEB), which increased by 21.5 percent to 505.6 million.  (This excludes Back Office Conversion, which was not av ...

IAT Effective Date Extended to September 18, 2009 

Issued: July 31, 2008
Effective: September 18, 2009

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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.

ALL U.S. DEPOSITORY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS MUST PREPARE
Receiving Depository ...

WASHINGTON — 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.

In issuing the proclamation, Jennifer Kelly, Senior Deputy Comptroller for Mid-Size/Community Bank Supervision, said she expects that only those bank offices directly affected by the hurricane will close.  Those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers, she added.

SOURCE CONTACTS: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Related Link:

Proclamation (http://www.occ.gov/ftp/release/2008-86a.pdf) 

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.

The Go Direct campaign has hit a key milestone – two million enrollments in direct deposit – representing $178 million in savings to taxpayers over the next 10 years. 

The complete text of the U.S. Treasury press release and a list of the Go Direct Champions can be found here: http://www.godirect.org/media/index.cfm