No Fraud Spike With Same Day ACH, Says NACHA

NACHA wants to quell any anxieties about the rollout of Same Day ACH, and the latest data from the payments group should breathe new confidence in banks that have adopted the technology.

The association released the latest data on the rollout of Same Day ACH thus far with a new report today (Feb. 7). According to analysis of the 23 financial institutions that participated in the survey, 90 percent of those banks have reported that the volume of origination of Same Day ACH services was either on par with expectations or surpassed expectations, while 83 percent said the same about the volume of Same Day ACH transactions received.

NACHA also examined corporate use of Same Day ACH services, with 84 percent of banks saying they had originated services for mid-sized firms. More than half (58 percent) said they had done the same for large organizations.

Small businesses, meanwhile, lag behind, with just 37 percent of FIs reporting they have originated Same Day ACH transactions for this demographic.

Nearly all survey respondents reported Same Day ACH usage for emergency payments, like payroll, but NACHA highlighted a variety of uses for the technology. More than two-thirds of banks said their clients use the technology for one-time payments, and more than half (58 percent) said businesses use it to make payments that occur on a regular schedule — for instance, to pay hourly employees.

All of the 23 FIs surveyed said they had at least one instance that could be considered a “client success story” with regards to using Same Day ACH for payroll.

The banks also reported being able to provide information faster to their corporate clients, with 83 percent of respondents saying they did so to business customers after every processing window.

But the most important finding of the report, NACHA said, is that the survey respondents aren’t seeing an influx of fraud related to initiating Same Day ACH transactions.

According to the survey, no respondents said they had experienced an increase in fraud since implementing Same Day ACH services, whether as an originating or receiving institution. Those findings may appease concerns raised by some analysts in recent months that say Same Day ACH rollouts could be prime-time for fraudsters to strike.

“We’ve seen in the past that, anytime there’s been a movement toward accelerated payment, the fraudsters see that as an opportunity,” said Luis Rojas, vice president of product management at online banking security firm Guardian Analytics, in an interview with PYMNTS last year.

But NACHA said the latest stats suggest banks won’t be hit with the same influx in fraud attempts seen by U.K. institutions amid the rollout of the Faster Payments Service.

“We are encouraged by the results of the survey, which validates that Same Day ACH is an effective, beneficial and safe faster payments solutions that is meeting — and, in some cases, exceeding — the expectations of its users,” reflected NACHA President and CEO Janet O. Estep in a statement. “We are pleased to see that the vast majority of receiving financial institutions are delivering added benefit to their corporate customers now by providing transaction information to them after each of the three processing windows.”

Estep continued to note that the survey findings should inject new momentum in Same Day ACH adoption and use, especially as NACHA approaches Phase 2 of the implementation process.

“Given the strong support for and usage of Same Day ACH, processors and solution providers should do all that they can to fully unleash this capability by making origination and receipt easier for end users so that all may be able to fully capitalize on this faster payment capability,” Estep stated.

The 23 institutions surveyed make up 63 percent of ACH Network origination transaction volume, NACHA noted.