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Nacha members have approved five rule changes meant to boost the use and efficiency of international automated clearing house transactions. International ACH transactions totaled $270.96 billion in value in 2024 on 120.99 million payments, Nacha says.
Announced Tuesday, the changes address clearing up what is an international automated clearing house transaction, and ensuring a person’s date of birth is included (an important part of sanctions screening).
The changes also make it easier to indicate an issue with sanctions screening as distinct from other reasons, recognize a non-U.S. financial institution may be what Nacha calls a non-traditional account-holding organization, and require U.S. financial institutions to register their IAT-specific contacts in Nacha’s Contact Registry. The registry is a secure database of personnel or departments responsible for ACH operations and fraud and risk management. Nacha’s current rules for international ACH transactions became effective in 2009.
The 2024 volume in international ACH transactions is up 64% in the last few years, Michael Herd, Nacha executive vice president of ACH network administration, tells Digital Transactions News via email. International ACH volume totaled 73.66 million transactions in 2015. “Clearer rules, enhanced data capabilities, and faster exception resolution will make for a better user experience,” Herd says.
With these changes, Herd says Nacha, which first established its operating rules in 1974, will educate financial institutions and corporations on their impacts. “In particular, Nacha will be working with corporate practitioners on new and expanded use cases for International ACH transactions,” he says.
International ACH transactions have next-day settlement and can be processed at the same times as all other ACH payments, he says.
