NACHA CEO Joins Fed’s Faster Payments Task Force Committee

NACHA CEO Jan Estep has been selected as a member of a steering committee designated to help advise the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force.

Estep’s selection is a natural fit for the task force, as its goals center on how to identify and evaluate approaches for implementing a safe, ubiquitous, faster payments capability in the U.S. The Fed’s group was created following the publishing of the Federal Reserve’s “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System” paper that was released at the start of 2015.

“I am looking forward to further working with the industry and the Federal Reserve on the steering committee, helping to bring forward ideas from many of the task force’s other participants,” Estep said. “NACHA also will share findings from the ACH Blueprint, developed with the industry in 2012, to discuss options for how we can collectively leverage the strengths of the ACH Network as we build for the future.”

NACHA’s membership, which consists of most financial institutions in this country directly or through regional associations, voted in favor in May of a change to NACHA operating rules that adopts Same Day ACH. That’s a speedier alternative to existing ACH which can take a day or more to settle and clear. The rule requires that all NACHA members have the capability to process any ACH transaction within the same day— a move that can help businesses and consumers move money faster.

Same Day ACH will be rolled out starting Sept. 23, 2016, in the following three-phase process:

• ACH credit transactions will be eligible for same day processing, supporting use cases such as hourly payroll and person-to-person (P2P) payments and same-day bill pay.
• Same-day ACH debits will be added, allowing for a wide variety of same day consumer bill payment use cases like utility, mortgage, loan and credit card payments.
• Introduction of faster ACH credit funds availability requirements for RDFIs; funds from Same Day ACH credit transactions will need to be available to customers by 5 p.m. RDFI local time.

According to NACHA: “The rule enables same-day settlement capability for virtually any ACH transaction, creating new payment options for businesses, governments and consumers, as well as functionality that can be leveraged in the future for real-time payments and other products and services.”

In terms of her participation on the steering committee, Estep will advise the Federal Reserve task force chair on meeting agendas, as well as assist in helping the task force prioritize activities. Furthermore, Estep and the rest of the steering committee will help establish and recommend what work needs to be done and how it can be distributed across the task force. 

The task force consists of more than 300 members from the entire spectrum of payments system stakeholders. It brings together the goals of the organizations interested in the future of U.S. payment systems — including everything from financial institutions and technology providers to end users, associations and consultants.

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