Nacha has announced that their System of Fines group will soon resume emailing notices of potential violations to ODFIs who may not have completed the process to register their Third-Party Sender status as required by the Nacha Operating Rules. These notices of violation were not sent in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Under Article Two, Section 2.17.3 of the Nacha Operating Rules, ODFIs are required to complete registration of each Third-Party Sender for which they originate entries through Nacha's secure Risk Management Portal. Initial registration was required to be completed by March 1, 2018. An ODFI with no Third-Party Senders must affirmatively state to Nacha that it has none.
ODFIs are also required to re-register their Direct Access status with Nacha by either acknowledging that they have no Direct Access Debit Participants or by providing specific information about each Direct Access Debit Participant relationship. The Direct Access registration requirement is a long-standing rule, but with the implementation of Nacha's Risk Management Portal, each ODFI is being asked to re-attest its Direct Access status.
In accordance with Appendix Nine of the Rules, Class 2 violations of the Rules are presented to the ACH Rules Enforcement Panel for evaluation and a decision as to whether a fine should be imposed. In such cases, the ACH Rules Enforcement Panel may find it appropriate to assess a fine against a financial institution of up to $100,000 per month until the issue causing the rule violation is resolved.
While this is the upper limit and not applicable to all violations, it does serve to highlight the seriousness with which Nacha considers enforcement of its Operating Rules. As your Payments Association, our mission of empowering you to be informed, compliant, and competitive in payments is intended to help you avoid violating the Rules. Should you become involved in enforcement proceedings, we can provide assistance in navigating the process.
Please take a moment to confirm that your institution is current on these registrations. If you have questions about the Rules, ask ePay on our Payments Answerline™ at 800-475-0585, Option 1.