Hoping to have more say in the evolving payments market, Regions Financial Corp. has joined Nacha, the electronic payments association.
Nacha, which defines and administers the rules governing the automated clearing house networks, announced Monday that Regions, a Birmingham, Ala., banking company, has become its 45th member — 26 banks and 19 regional payment companies.
Regions was the 16th-largest originator of ACH payments in 2006, with 106.7 million transactions, according to Nacha data, and the No. 7 receiver, with 224.7 million payments.
"There are accelerating changes in the payments industry that directly affect our customers, the advice we offer them, and the services we provide," Scott Jashinski, Regions' payments strategy manager, said in a press release. Joining Nacha "gives us the opportunity to shape the future of the ACH network and the payments systems for years to come," he said.
Nacha also said last week that it has formed a working group to develop ways to integrate ACH payments with mobile banking systems.
Mobile banking has taken off rapidly in the past year, and the working group, which will comprise industry representatives drawn from Nacha's councils, is meant to ensure that ACH capabilities will be included in this growing field.
