User:Thetestsandbox/sandbox

 The Electronic Payments Association  (NACHA), was formed by the California ACH Association, the Georgia Association, the New England ACH Association, and the Upper Midwest ACH Association, to establish uniform operating rules for the exchange of Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments among ACH associations. Led by CEO Janet O. Estep and Pat Thelen of UMB Bank, Chairperson of NACHA.

History
The ACH Network had its start in the early 1970's when a group of California bankers formed the Special Committee on Paperless Entries (SCOPE) in direct response to the rapid escalation of check volume in the United States. The mission for this committee was to explore the technical, operational, and legal framework necessary for automated payments. This eventually led to the formation of the first ACH association in 1972. .

Organization Structure and Goals
NACHA (previously the National Automated Clearing House Association) manages the development, administration, and governance of the ACH Network, the backbone for the electronic movement of money and data in the United States. It is funded by the financial institutions it governs. The ACH Network serves as a network for direct consumer, business, and government payments, and annually facilitates billions of payments such as Direct Deposit and Direct Payment. Utilized by all types of financial institutions, the ACH Network is governed by the NACHA Operating Rules , a set of rules that guide risk management and create certainty for all participants.

NACHA is a not-for-profit association and represents nearly 11,000 financial institutions via 17 regional payments associations and direct membership.

NACHA is not directly involved in the ACH transactions that flow to and from organizations and financial institutions, nor does NACHA send communications to individuals or organizations about individual ACH transactions. Various phishing scams have attempted to use references to NACHA or impersonations to scam individuals. or get them to install malicious malware.

Activities
NACHA fills the role in the association world, serving as both an industry trade association and administrator of Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network. As the industry trade association that oversees the ACH Network, NACHA provides services in three functional areas


 * Education & Accreditation
 * Member Engagement
 * Communications & Advocacy

NACHA supports the value of the ACH Network and the NACHA Operating Rules to support the ACH Network and preserve the attributes of private-sector rulemaking. NACHA broadly engages external audiences to communicate the value proposition of the ACH Network and ACH payments to end-users and other audiences.

NACHA hosts a variety of meetings and conventions each year to help educate, inform, and distribute information to members and individuals seeking information. Its annual gathering, “PAYMENTS” conference, attracts a significant audience. PAYMENTS, is a conference that offers a hub where an audience of financial institutions, corporate, government, and electronic technology provider decision makers gather yearly.