← Business

Prepare credit union for Business ACH

ACH for business allows credit unions to create ACH companies, manage ACH permissions, process NACHA files, and more within Banno People. With specialized permissions, an institution controls which admin users access specific ACH management. Using ACH, credit unions can:

  • Aggregate and download batches into NACHA formatted files that can be processed using the credit union’s existing ACH origination system
  • Create and manage ACH companies

Get ready for ACH

As your institution prepares for Business ACH during the implementation process, we’re here to assist. The following steps and guidelines help you understand the ACH functionality that the Banno Digital Banking Platform offers and your responsibilities for ACH logging and auditing:

  • Select admin users
  • Establish your organization’s NACHA file archive
  • Determine method for exception logging
  • Establish the batch submission cut-off time
  • Set-up communication procedures for batch deletions and exceptions
  • Update or create the institution’s internal process and procedures for transmitting NACHA Files
  • Manage risk

Admin users

Your institution determines which admin users process ACH and generate files. To access and manage Business ACH in Banno Admin, an admin user first needs the People permission Manage business ACH or Manage everything enabled.

NACHA file archive

Your institution establishes an archive location so that you can keep files according to your retention policies. The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not store the NACHA-formatted files that it generates.

Exception logging method

Determine your institution’s auditing method for storing decisioning and exceptions, because the Banno Digital Banking Platform does not store the information. Scenarios that possibly require logging or auditing on your institution’s part include:

  • Allowing an NSF batch to process.
  • Deleting a batch from processing due to failure of external checks.
  • Batches that may be removed due to an ACH company being retired.

Your institution might also want to keep your batch totals printed at the end of finalization in your archive location.

Batch submission cut-off time

The batch submission cut-off time controls whether batches can be submitted with an effective date of the next business day. As you work with your implementation coordinator, you’ll determine the batch submission cut-off time. Your institution should take in to account the following:

  • Your deadline for transmitting a file with the next business day as the effective date.
  • How long your pre-processing checks may take to complete before transmitting the file.

Communication procedures for batch deletions and exceptions

Your institutions needs to establish procedures for handling exceptions returned by the ACH origination process and communicating the results of those exceptions to your institution.

If a batch is deleted by your institution, the Banno Digital Banking Platform does not provide notification or alert functionality. If an issue arises with a batch that prevents it from being processed, ensure that your institution is prepared to notify the organization.

The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not currently resubmit a batch or allow a batch to be submitted for the next business day after the cut-off. Your institution should communicate this to organizations.

The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not update any batch history based on exceptions from the Federal Reserve or in your ACH origination system. The ACH functionality offered in Banno People is a batch management system that tracks organization batch submissions and aggregation of batch submissions into a NACHA file.

Procedures for transmitting NACHA Files

Your institution should establish or update procedures for ensuring proper storage and transmission of NACHA files. The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not support transmission of the file to a network location or transmission of the file to the Federal Reserve.

Manage risk

The following guidelines can help manage risk associated with ACH batch management:

  • Limits at all levels should be assessed and reviewed periodically according to your institution’s risk management policies.
  • Files and batches should be spot-checked against limits set.
  • Batch totals displayed at the end of finalization may be printed and compared against the system consuming them.

SHARE:MICRACCTNUMBER field population

Business ACH requires the SHARE:MICRACCTNUMBER field in your Symitar database populate with a valid MICR value. The Banno Digital Platform uses the SHARE:MICRACCTNUMBER field in two ways:

  • Offset transactions populated in an outgoing batch use the MICRACCTNUMBER field to populate the correct recipient information in the NACHA file that is generated.
  • If your institution uses the ACH Origination Splitter Edit Run, the edit run matches on OnUs accounts based on the MICRACCTNUMBER field.