The Federal Reserve this week announced it was approving enhancements to NACHA’s same-day automated clearing house (ACH) rules, bringing the U.S. payment system a step closer to faster payments.

The enhancements will require receiving depository financial institutions (RDFIs) to participate in the service and originating depository financial institutions (ODFIs) to pay a fee to RDFIs for each same-day ACH forward transaction.

“With the Federal Reserve’s support of the NACHA rule, the industry’s commitment to modernizing the payments system and enabling a ubiquitous faster payment option can be fully realized,” Janet O. Estep, president and CEO of NACHA, said in a statement. “Same-day ACH is a game changer as it will enable new options for consumers, businesses and government entities that want to move money faster, and will serve as a building block for enabling payments innovation in the development of new products and services.”

NACHA, which approved the rule in May, said it would be implemented in three phases:

• In Phase 1, ACH credit transactions will be eligible for same day processing, supporting use cases such as hourly payroll, person-to-person (P2P) payments and same-day bill pay.
• In Phase 2, same-day ACH debits will be added, allowing for a wide variety of consumer bill payment use cases like utility, mortgage, loan and credit card payments.
• Phase 3 introduces faster ACH credit funds availability requirements for RDFIs; funds from Same Day ACH credit transactions will need to be available to customers by 5 p.m. RDFI local time.

Phase 1 will begin on Sept. 23, 2016.