NACHA has partnered with The Clearing House to bring electronic billing information delivery service (EBIDS), an automated clearing house (ACH) network bill presentment and payment solution, to market. EBIDS has been a NACHA pilot program since 2008, operated by the Federal Reserve Banks.
EBIDS expands the capabilities of the ACH by enabling businesses to leverage its infrastructure to deliver electronic bills to consumer online banking accounts. Specifically, EBIDS extends the eBill distribution model by incorporating a distinctive, centralized biller directory and providing: ubiquitous connections to financial institutions through the ACH Network; standardization for electronic bill presentment via NACHA rules oversight and security features provided by financial institutions’ online banking processes.
The goal of NACHA’s EBIDS pilot program was to demonstrate the ability of the ACH Network to support electronic billing, as well as bill payment. In the pilot, Verizon worked with JP Morgan to deliver eBills to customers at Wells Fargo and Dollar Bank.
Biller adoption of EBIDS will be an ongoing area of emphasis as the technology transitions into full-scale production.
Recognizing the potential of EBIDS to address market demands, several banks have already committed to participating. EBIDS commercial service will be available to these institutions by early 2011.
Janet Estep, president and CEO of NACHA, said: “EBIDS is a unique offering that leverages the strengths of the ACH Network – ubiquity, efficiency, and the ability to carry information in addition to payment. As EBIDS transitions into production, the partnership with The Clearing House will enable financial institutions nationwide to offer electronic bill presentment to their customers.”
Russ Waterhouse, executive vice president of product development at The Clearing House, said: “Consumers are aggressively migrating to online banking and financial management solutions. As an ACH operator, we are in a unique position to provide financial institutions and their customers with a standardized, ubiquitous electronic bill presentment and payment solution.”
Jim McKee, senior vice president of retail payments office at Federal Reserve Bank, said: “The Federal Reserve Banks are encouraged by the results of the EBIDS pilot program. As EBIDS transitions into a commercial service, we hope to see widespread participation from billers and financial institutions. We remain supportive of the EBIDS concept and will continue to explore how best to integrate EBIDS with our network and security infrastructure to ensure availability to all ACH network participants.”
Angeline DePauw, director of remittance processing at Verizon, said: “Reducing the volume of paper bills is a strategic goal at Verizon. We believe EBIDS will help us achieve this goal while at the same time allowing us to expand our customer reach and reduce expenses and customer service calls.”
Pat Thelen, executive director of JP Morgan Treasury Services, said: “It’s clear that EBIDS can play an important role in helping financial institutions meet the evolving needs of their clients.”
Chris Huppert, a senior vice president in wholesale internet and treasury solutions group at Wells Fargo, said: “The EBIDS pilot was a success in that it demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of the platform. Now with the infrastructure that The Clearing House will bring, EBIDS is poised to significantly expand its reach and deliver benefits broadly to consumers, billers, and financial institutions.”
Aileen Gleason, product management executive at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said: “Between greater convenience for consumers and greater efficiency for corporate billers, EBIDS will offer significant benefits as billing and payment preferences migrate from paper to electronic format. We look forward to working with The Clearing House as this service evolves from a pilot program to production.”
NACHA is a US-based electronic payments association that supports the growth of the ACH Network by managing its development, administration, and governance.
The Clearing House is a private sector provider of payments settlement and clearing services to financial institutions worldwide. It processes nearly 66 million ACH, wire transfer and image exchange transactions daily with an average US dollar value of nearly two trillion.