what is nacha 
nacha is the steward of the electronic system that connects all u s bank accounts and facilitates the movement of money among them according to the organization 73 trillion moved through its automated clearing house ach network in 2021 1previously known as the national automated clearinghouse association nacha is a non profit association that is funded by the financial institutions that use its network 2 nacha and the interactive financial exchange ifx forum merged in 2018 an international industry association that develops specifications for financial data systems 3understanding nachathe ach network enables billions of electronic financial transactions including direct deposits social security and government benefits statements electronic bill payments person to person p2p and business to business b2b payments 4nacha merged with the interactive financial exchange ifx forum in 2018 3 through its supervisory and rule making functions nacha provides the foundation for electronic payment systems to operate effectively while working to update technologies and implement new payment systems history of nachanacha was created in 1974 with the merger of several regional bodies it was originally part of the american bankers association 5it has been instrumental in the development and standardization of such innovations as direct payroll deposit electronic benefits deposit and automated credit card transactions 5more recently it has taken over the task of enabling the processing of b2b health insurance payments under the 2010 affordable care act nacha now administers the healthcare electronic funds transfer eft standard which supports hipaa compliant transactions between health plans and providers that allow for information to travel with the payment simplifying accounting procedures for providers 6the ach networkthe ach network connects all u s financial institutions through a ubiquitous payment system that is built to securely and efficiently move money and information from one bank account to another nacha develops rules and codes of business practices and is involved in the development of new applications it also institutes and monitors quality and risk management controls although it is not a government agency nacha works closely with various government agencies including the federal reserve u s treasury and state banking authorities in order to ensure the integrity of the electronic payments systems used by u s financial institutions in 2014 nacha formed the payments innovation alliance as a voice for the payments industry and the ach network 7 the alliance consists of hundreds of companies and organizations across the global payment ecosystem it offers discussion debate education and networking on such topics as payment system modernization trends standards security and ongoing innovation 8faster paymentsin november 2019 nacha unveiled an initiative called the faster payments playbook that aims to allow consumers to pay anyone anywhere at any time with near immediate funds availability 9nacha also provides services in education and accreditation industry engagement with financial institutions businesses and government and advocacy resources 10nacha s api standardization industry group asig supports the advancement and use of standardized application programming interfaces apis within the u s financial services industry 11