Faster Payments Plan Is Still Too Slow, Critics Say

American Banker
Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Nacha, the bank industry group that sets the rules for the network that connects every U.S. bank and credit union, has announced a new effort to achieve same-day electronic transactions. Under Nacha's proposal, payments will eventually be processed twice each weekday. But the overhaul would fall short of the near real-time systems that have been built in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Sweden and other countries -- and will also lag behind numerous proprietary real-time payment systems in the United States. The organization plans to phase in same-day capabilities in three stages, which they hope will assuage concerns raised opponents who derailed a similar effort in 2012 and give banks more time to make costly upgrades to their computer systems.