Nacha sets out to dispel ISO 20022 myths
US payments body Nacha has set out to dispel myths about the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard with a new white paper published as part of an education programme as the US looks to convert its ACH network to the standard.
According to Nacha, there is a “frenzied dialogue” among financial institutions, businesses and related providers and “a lot of confusion” about what the standard is and what it means for the ACH Network.
Nasreen Quibria, managing director of Q Insights and author of the paper, said: “Having worked on ISO 20022 conversion for the US wire system as well as consulted extensively on ISO 20022 in the ACH Network, I have witnessed firsthand the misconceptions about the message standard. This paper serves as a resource to educate the industry and support its adoption.”
The white paper offers best practice guidance for interim steps to integrate the current ACH formats with the ISO 20022 message standard, as well as illustrates the benefits and challenges of converting current ACH formats to ISO 20022 messages for US Network transactions.
“The purpose of this white paper is to provide clarity regarding the promises, strategies, myths and roadblocks for ISO 20022 and payments,” said George Throckmorton, managing director of network development at Nacha. “Issuing the paper is part of Nacha’s ongoing efforts to meet the needs of the present by providing industry tools and solutions to assist with ISO 20022 ACH integration while preparing for the future by continuing to monitor, explore and engage with market participants around the possibility of ISO 20022 ACH conversion.”
The white paper can be downloaded from the ISO 20022 Resource Center on Nacha’s website at . The Resource Center also features programmess, ACH integration tools and educational resources to better inform the US payments industry about the message standard. It also provides the option to submit an ISO 20022-related question to Nacha experts.
