Nacha, the electronic payments association, said its voting members approved an amendment to its operating rules that will require the originators of automated clearing house transactions to be identified.
The amendment, called the Company Name Identification Rule, will take effect June 20, the Herndon, Va., ACH rulemaker said Monday in a press release.
The voting members include representatives of 24 financial institutions that are direct members of the association and the nation's 19 regional payment associations.
Nacha said its research shows that problems with the identification of companies in ACH transactions are rare. However, consumers who fail to recognize transactions are more likely to contact their financial institutions, increasing customer service costs, the organization said.
It has been tightening its rules to fight ACH fraud, as the network has been used increasingly for one-time transactions — at the point of sale or remotely authorized — rather than recurring payments among known parties.
The amendment covers identification requirements for specific types of ACH transactions and cases in which the originator is not the ultimate payee or payor.
