Automated Clearing House

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews In an early glimpse of how U.S. businesses are using faster payments, the governing body for the automated clearing house issued survey results Tuesday showing that 90% of respondents at surveyed financial institutions report same-day ACH origination volume at or above what they expected. The same …

The nation’s automated clearing house network handled more than 13 million same-day transactions worth almost $17 billion between Sept. 23 and the end of the year, according to statistics released Wednesday by NACHA, the rulemaking authority for the ACH. Wednesday’s release represents the second time NACHA has issued numbers for …

It’s taken about a year, but Dwolla Inc. has now executed a strategic shift away from handling online and mobile transactions directly for consumers who want to pay merchants and each other. Instead, the 8-year-old, Des Moines, Iowa-based company now focuses on selling programming to clients that want to process …

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is questioning Mastercard Inc.’s planned $920 million acquisition of London-based VocaLink Holdings Ltd., a deal which if consummated would give Mastercard a strong presence in several non-card payment systems, including the Faster Payments initiative in the United States. VocaLink operates Bacs, the U.K.’s …

In a rare move against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal court has upheld a counterclaim against the agency filed by a company that provides mortgage-payment services through the automated clearing house network. The U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California ruled on Dec. 13 that Nationwide …

A new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts says a minority of “financially vulnerable” consumers generate most overdraft fee revenue for banks, and it calls for bank regulators to put stricter controls on the controversial fee. The report uses data from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 40 banks, and …

• The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority issued a provisional finding that the August acquisition of Germany’s Wincor Nixdorf AG by U.S.-based ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. “risks a substantial lessening of competition … in the market for the supply of customer-operated ATMs in the U.K.” The new company name is Diebold Nixdorf. The CMA …

The Electronic Check Clearing House Organization (ECCHO), a leader in the movement to develop check image exchange, announced Monday that it is “exploring possible strategic opportunities.” The terms “exploring strategic opportunities” or “exploring strategic options” usually mean a company is up for sale. It is indeed possible that the ECCHO …

A demand-deposit account is the anchor liquidity instrument for most consumers and businesses. For some members of the unbanked, it’s a GPR-prepaid-card account. Policymakers and commercial actors are moving to enable real-time payments between DDAs at thousands of U.S. banks. Policymakers aim to improve payment-system efficiency and enable new and …

Recreational marijuana is now legal in a growing number of states, but cash remains the dominant payment method. Now, however, CanPay, a Littleton, Colo.-based payments provider, has developed a digital payment option that allows legal marijuana retailers to directly debit a consumer’s checking account from the point of sale. Typically, …