Blogs

NEACH’s 2023 Future of Payments Symposium: FedNow® Early Adopters Panel

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 12-08-2023
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NEACH brought together banking, payments, and FinTech professionals for its annual Future of Payments Symposium , held virtually Nov. 2-3, to address the evolution of the payments landscape and its impact on financial institutions. The conference opened with “The FedNow ® Early Adopters Panel,” featuring Michael O’Brien Assistant Vice President of Payment Strategies at Eastern Corporate Federal Credit Union (Eascorp), and subsidiary, Vertifi Software, and Robert Ames, head of digital delivery at Salem Five Bank, with Joe Casali, Executive Vice President at NEACH serving as moderator. What follows are highlights from this roundtable discussion. Casali: ...
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October 2023 Innovating Payments Executive Summary—FedNow® Service Hits New Milestone with More Than 100 Participating Organizations

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 10-16-2023
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Welcome to the Oct. 2023 Innovating Payments Executive Summary — FedNow® Service Hits New Milestone with More Than 100 Participating Organizations. In this issue, the Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow Service has experienced strong growth, with 108 institutions now sending and receiving on the network. Also in the news, Boston Fed First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Kenneth C. Montgomery announced his plans to retire in the spring of 2024, after 40 years of service to the Federal Reserve System. In other news, credit union members are seeking innovative cryptocurrency services from their financial institutions. Meanwhile, U.S. ...
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Aug. 31 FedNow® Town Hall: Early Adopters Share Excitement and Experiences

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 10-09-2023
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During the Aug. 31 FedNow town hall , early adopters shared their excitement about the service, which continues to gain momentum, according to Senior Vice President and FedNow Business Executive Nick Stanescu. "In just one month since launching the FedNow Service," said Stanescu, "we've gone from 35 live financial institutions and 16 service providers to 62 participating financial institutions and 20 service providers ready to support payment activity, and these numbers are growing weekly." The growth rate in one month is significant by any measure and speaks to the growing interest in and demands for instant payments using the FedNow service. Early ...
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Member Update: The Importance of Micro-Entries

By Elyssa Morgan posted 08-08-2023
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Phase 2 of Nacha’s Micro-Entry Rule became effective as of March 17, 2023, stating “ Originators of Micro-Entries will be required to use commercially reasonable fraud detection, including the monitoring of Micro-Entry forward and return volumes.” And therein lies the uncertainty. The statement “commercially reasonable fraud detection” has historically been a point of confusion for financial institutions (FIs), precisely because it has a degree of ambiguity and what may be “commercially reasonable” for one institution may not for another one. Calls to the NEACH Payments Hotline around Micro-Entries nearly always seek clarity on what constitutes ...
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Is it Love, or an Encounter You Will Regret?

By Rayleen Pirnie BCJ, AAP, CERP posted 04-20-2023
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He’s perfect. He likes everything you do; he’s funny, witty, and has a great job. He says all the right things. His photo made you go “oh, hi there!” While you just recently met online, you just know that he’s perfect in every way. The online messages, emails, texts, and calls get serious quickly; he professes his love, though you’ve never met in-person. You feel the same. He tells you that he just “knows” you are the one for him. He even sent you roses after you told him what a horrible day you had. Is this truly your dream-guy (or girl)? Maybe; unfortunately, there’s a greater chance that it’s a scammer sitting in a cybercafé in another country using ...
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Member Update: Mitigating Credit-Push and Account-to-Account Fraud

By Elyssa Morgan posted 04-18-2023
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We’ve all seen the news or have experienced it first-hand: Credit-push or account-to-account fraud is on the rise. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission just reported that more than $2.3 billion was lost by consumers in 2021 due to imposter scams, up 92% from 2020. Whether it’s a swindle where a fraudster convinces a customer or member to send them money under false pretenses (think romance scams) or a case of account takeover, spoofing, phishing, or email compromise, fraudsters have been working their way into credit payments. And these developments aren’t limited to one payment rail. They are being sent on card rails, as well as ACH and beyond. ...
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2023 FedNowSM Service Pricing Now Available

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 03-28-2023
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The Federal Reserve recently announced pricing for the FedNow Service , which will launch mid-year 2023. To support widespread adoption of instant payments, the Federal Reserve is offering key pricing discounts for new FedNow Service customers in 2023. These include waiving the $25 monthly service fee ($300 annual value) and discounting the $0.045 customer credit transfer fee on the first 2,500 customer credit transfers per month (up to $1,350 annual value). Other FedNow Service fees for 2023 include: • $1.00 liquidity management transfer fee • $0.01 request for payment fee • $0.045 return customer credit transfer fee More ...
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NEACH Education: New Management Track in 2023

By Sandy Ortins, AAP, APRP, NCP posted 03-13-2023
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NEACH is revamping its education offerings, culminating with the launch of NEACH University in 2024. This year, NEACH offers a sneak peek into its new Management Track, which addresses the unique challenges and opportunities payments managers face in a rapidly evolving industry. The track aims to help managers understand the strategic nature of payment functions and provide guidance on effectively managing payments-related operations and services. “We are reimagining the way we do education,” explained Mark Dixon, AAP, APRP, NCP, and Vice President of NEACH Education. “NEACH will be introducing new approaches to learning, including video elements, self-guided ...
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The Countdown Begins: Why You Must Implement Changes to Third-Party Sender Agreements by March

By Sandy Ortins, AAP, APRP, NCP posted 01-18-2023
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As we turn our eyes toward plans for 2023, before the end of the first quarter financial institutions (FIs) need to prepare for changes to their third-party sender agreements and relationships. Specifically, two new modifications to third-party sender roles and responsibilities--which technically went into effect as of September 30, 2022--will start being enforced as of March 31, 2023. Auditors and regulators will be looking closely at these compliance topics. “If you haven’t had your exams, reviews, or whatever-related to third-party risk management, they are going to be more intense,” shared Kevin Sasser, Director of Sales and Strategic Initiatives at ...
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NEACH 2023 Industry Update: Preparing for the Changes Ahead

By Sandy Ortins, AAP, APRP, NCP posted 01-11-2023
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As financial institutions look ahead to 2023, “change” is the name of the game. The FedNow SM Service is due to launch mid-year, leaving financial institutions just months to prepare. To that end, the Federal Reserve Banks recently published Operating Circular 8 , which sets the terms and conditions governing the FedNow SM Service alongside its “ FedNow Service Operating Procedures .” Also important to note is the Fed's new amendments to Regulation J, which will significantly impact financial institution operations. Nacha also announced the release of its “ New Risk Management Framework for the Era of Credit-Push Fraud ,” which provides a new ...
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August 2022 Innovating Payments Executive Summary— Businesses Interested in Using Faster Payments for Emerging Use Cases

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 08-16-2022
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Welcome to the August 2022 Innovating Payments Executive Summary. The Federal Reserve released the results of its second annual corporate study, revealing that U.S. businesses are increasingly interested in using faster payments for day-to-day business operations. Also in the news, Bernadette Ksepka, Vice President and Deputy Head of Product Management for the FedNow SM Service Program, is calling 2023 a transformative year for the industry. She urges financial institutions to make the necessary financial technology investments to enable instant payments through the FedNow Service. On Tuesday, July 26, Nacha released its second Operations ...
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May 2022 Innovating Payments Executive Summary — Tokenization to Boost Financial Security

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 05-31-2022
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Welcome to the May 2022 issues of NEACH’s Innovating Payments Executive Summary. In this month’s issue, the Federal Reserve announced it launched the initial testing phase of its FedNow SM Pilot Program and began onboarding pilot participants onto the FedNow Service, with a few organizations having now successfully delivered test messages over the pilot platform. In other news, Nacha President and CEO Jane Larimer announced that Nacha and the Faster Payments Council are partnering to provide the Faster Payments Professionals (FPP) certificate program and Payment Associations, like NEACH, will be delivering relevant training. Also in this month’s issue, The ...
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A Look at Blockchain in New England State Government

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 05-24-2022
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As payments professionals, when we hear the word “blockchain,” our minds instinctively go to digital currency, cryptocurrency, or even Bitcoin. While it is true that blockchain serves as the underlying technology supporting those channels, its use cases extend far beyond payments. Blockchain, in its simplest form, is a series of blocks that store data. This means that the technology creates advantages in many different scenarios where record-keeping or data management come into play. Industries as diverse as healthcare, supply chain management, information technology, and government have been exploring blockchain’s merits to increase efficiency and strengthen ...
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The Great Resignation? For Financial Institutions?

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 04-20-2022
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The COVID-19 pandemic might have been the catalyst for The Great Resignation , but the shifts it has brought are likely here to stay. Although coronavirus cases continue to decline in the United States and many mask mandates are disappearing, the truth is that it’s a rare business that’s been unchanged by the events of past two years. Financial institutions, of course, fall into the “changed” category. Back in 2020, the pandemic necessitated immediate changes for the industry, sending employees home to work and closing branches. But as the banking environment evolves, the workforce must as well. The Great Resignation, as we’ve shared before , incorporates ...
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The Payments Journey: A conversation with FinTechs

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 03-31-2022
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As FinTechs grow, they must evolve along with the payments marketplace. The timeframe of a new versus an established FinTech may seem relatively short, but in terms of technological time, six months to a year can seem like a lot more. Because there’s no time to waste, especially given how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the already existing trends in cashless payments. For example, a recent Forbes article claims that in 2021, 82 percent of Americans used some form of digital payment. And venture funds have been taking notice: As Tech Crunch reported last year, more than 20 percent of venture dollars went toward FinTech startups. For FIs, this ...
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March 2022 Innovating Payments Executive Summary— Cryptocurrency and Central Bank Digital Currency Making Headlines

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 03-15-2022
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Cryptocurrency and talk of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) continue to make headlines. On Wednesday, March 9, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing agencies across the government to study cryptocurrencies and a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Meanwhile, in a speech at the US Monetary Policy Forum in New York on February 18, Governor Lael Brainard of the Federal Reserve System urged her listeners to prepare for the payments system of the future, saying, “The Federal Reserve has been thinking critically about whether there is a role for a potential US central bank digital currency (CBDC)." Also making headlines this month: The ...
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Unlocking the Power and Potential of Bitcoin

By Joe Casali AAP, APRP posted 01-27-2022
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When studying a new language, you can pick up just enough to visit another country and order a coffee. Or you can spend time and energy to be fluent. According to Patrick Sells, the Chief Innovation Officer at NYDIG, who presented at the NEACH 2021 Future of Payments Conference , understanding Bitcoin is a lot like that. Whether your familiarity with cryptocurrency is fluid or rusty, it’s always helpful to learn more. During his session, Sells provided a detailed description of how Bitcoin arose and evolved and shared its use cases in banking and payments. What is currency, anyway? Sells began his presentation with a fundamental question: What ...
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TEAM SPOTLIGHT: Mary Mumper, AAP, CAMS, Director, Education

By Raven NEACH Marketing Maven posted 01-11-2022
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As NEACH’s Director of Education, Mary Mumper supports education initiatives, with a specific emphasis on enhancing NEACH’s payment innovation offerings. And as Lead Advisor for NEACH Payments Group (NPG), she also helps financial institutions, corporations, and vendors solve operational and regulatory challenges, manage risk, and drive financial and business improvement through NPG’s audit, risk management, and consulting services. Mary has a long history in payments; she’s worked in banking for 20 years, most recently as Vice President and Lead Auditor at BMTechnologies, formerly known as BankMobile. She has been certified by NACHA as an Accredited ACH Professional ...
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TEAM SPOTLIGHT: Joe Nompleggi, Records Administrator & IT Support

By Raven NEACH Marketing Maven posted 01-10-2022
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As NEACH’s Records Administrator and Information Technology Support Lead, Joe Nompleggi handles the integrity and performance of NEACH’s databases and makes sure company data is secure. He also evaluates new technologies to improve member experience and help NEACH leverage its technology and data in the most efficient, engaging way. Joe has worked in information technology, software development and database management for over 20 years; most recently, he served as Vice President of Product Development at Complete HealthCare Solutions, Inc. Although Joe is new to the banking and payments industry, he sees many parallels with healthcare in terms of regulatory, ...
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