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by Kas Stewart, SVP & AAP

ACH NETWORK

If your bank provides international wire services, this proposal will create an alternative. NACHA has issued a request for comments, which are due by May 30, 2025. The purpose of the change is to increase the usefulness of this transaction. In 2024, there were 121 million IAT debits and credits processed. In addition to the proposed changes to IATs, there are two items that pertain to all ACH payments. One would specifically define what valid characters are for ACH records and the other would have the current Return Reason Code R16 apply solely to frozen accounts. For details, log on to the NACHA website. 

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES!! ISO20022

If you are still struggling with the change to the existing wire format, which will be implemented on July 12, 2025, and applies to every financial institution, please take time to review webinars that were presented at various times by the Federal Reserve. These are on demand on YouTube. Search for Fedwire Funds Service. You will find an introduction and overview, My Standards, Tools and Testing and a deep dive on customer transfers. 

Are you ready? If you have not done so, please inventory the systems that support your wire operations like wire forms, online banking, mobile payments, treasury operations, compliance screening, fraud monitoring, accounting, and billing. Ensure that your internal software developers or vendors have acted and are ready. Call The Bankers Bank, if you have questions or if you believe you are ready for July 12 and you would like to begin testing.

OUR OLD FRIEND, FEDNOW!

Participation levels continue to increase with over 1300 financial institutions  using the network.

If you are still hesitant about usage, this is an innovation that would provide a new product to your customers, could increase revenue, and could be a customer retention tool. Fed has said the service is safe, efficient and has some tools in place to monitor risks.  These include a negative customer list and the ability to set up thresholds, which will allow you to define value and velocity thresholds by customer segment to fit customer needs and risk tolerance.

Let us know if we can help you.