Three New Nacha Rules Approved
Nacha voting members have approved three new Nacha Rules—including one which took effect immediately, opening the ACH Contact Registry to the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS).
“The Rule came about after BFS approached Nacha, asking to be included in the Registry,” said Devon Marsh, Nacha Managing Director, ACH Network Rules and Risk Management. The Registry had previously been available only to registered financial institutions, Payments Associations and the two ACH Operators.
BFS said it wants to use the Registry to find contacts at banks and credit unions, as well as provide its contact information so financial institutions can easily get hold of the right person at BFS.
“Easily finding the right people is at the heart of the Registry, and we are pleased to include BFS,” said Marsh, who noted a Rules change was required for it to happen. With nearly 87,000 contacts already in the Registry for ACH, as well as optional sections including checks and wires, Marsh said the new Rule “benefits not only BFS but all Registry participants, and will enhance ACH Network quality.”
Another newly approved Rule will document the current set of characters that are accepted by the two ACH Operators.
“The goal here is to eliminate any uncertainty about what characters the Operators accept, and, in turn, enhance ACH payment processing,” said Marsh. This Rule takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
The third approved Rule creates an exception to a separate, upcoming Rule concerning funds availability.
On Sept. 18, 2026, RDFIs will be required to make funds available for all non-Same Day credit Entries by 9 a.m. their local time on settlement date. This newly approved Rule acknowledges that for some RDFIs located east of the Atlantic time zone and west of the international date line, next day credits in certain file delivery windows are made available to those RDFIs on the settlement date after the 9 a.m. deadline. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are among the locations for which this exception will apply when it takes effect with the previously approved funds availability Rule on Sept. 18.
