Afinis Interoperable Standards Names its Interim Governing Board
HERNDON, Va. (PRWEB) December 05, 2018 -- Afinis Interoperable Standards announced that it has named its Interim Governing Board. The Interim Board consists of 11 member organizations including ACI Worldwide, Bank of America, Barclays, D3 Banking Technology, Fiserv, Microsoft, Oracle, Payrailz, Tata Consultancy Services, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo.
“We are excited to announce Afinis Interoperable Standards’ Interim Governing Board,” said NACHA President and CEO Janet O. Estep. “The Board is very representative of the diverse, global stakeholders that make up the financial services industry – from financial institutions to solution providers and fintechs – and as such will be able to provide meaningful and holistic perspectives that will not only serve Afinis members, but the larger industry in a way that will support and advance greater interoperability.”
Afinis Interoperable Standards brings diverse collaborators together to develop implementable, interoperable and portable standards to advance efficiency and security, and support innovation across the financial services industry. The group formalizes the work of the API Standardization Industry Group of the last two years, and incorporates prior work of the IFX Forum. In support of the mission, the newly appointed Board will provide strategic guidance to Afinis and address issues of strategic significance to Afinis member organizations. Additionally, the Interim Board will support development and modification of membership rules to advance the organization and ensure continued value to members and the financial services industry at large.
Afinis membership is open to all types of organizations interested in the development of API standardization, regardless of size, type or location of the company. Presently, member organizations, with support from the Interim Board, are furthering work on the current API use case initiatives. These include:
- Get Transaction Status: An Originator or Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI) wants to check the status of a transaction to verify that funds were deposited or withdrawn from the receiving account. This API use case allows an Originator of a transaction to check the status of a submitted payment instruction.
- B2B Payments Interoperability: B2B payment service providers want better interoperability so businesses (particularly small businesses) can receive and make B2B payments without multiple enrollments or learning multiple formats and systems. This API use case allows a company to obtain correct payment information and remittance requirements to pay another company.
- Initiate Payment: Standardized APIs allow businesses to submit payment instructions without having to access multiple systems and track scheduling. Businesses gain consistency and continuity across multiple bank relationships, improved reporting, and access to faster payments.
These API use cases complement previously released API use cases: Account Validation and Get Bank Contact Information, which are currently available for testing on http://www.afinis.org. The Account Validation API helps ensure bank accounts are valid and payments are posted as desired. The Get Bank Contact Information API allows originating financial institutions to quickly find and alert the appropriate contact within a receiving financial institution of potential fraud to prompt further investigation. The current API initiatives are slated for release in January 2019.
To learn more about Afinis Interoperable Standards and to impact its initiatives by becoming a member, visit http://www.afinis.org.
About Afinis Interoperable Standards
Afinis is a membership-based standards governance organization under the NACHA umbrella that brings together diverse collaborators – through innovative and agile processes – to develop implementable, interoperable, and portable financial services standards across operating environments and platforms. Afinis brings together thought leaders and leading technologists from financial institutions, fintechs and solution providers, businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations to rapidly develop API products through use of Afinis’ platform for standardized API product discovery, application testing, and developer collaboration. For more information and to learn how to join, visit Afinis.
About NACHA
NACHA is a nonprofit organization that convenes hundreds of diverse organizations to enhance and enable electronic payments and financial data exchange within the U.S. and across geographies. Through development of rules, standards, governance, education, advocacy, and in support of innovation, NACHA’s efforts benefit the providers and users of those systems. NACHA leads groups focused on API standardization, authors the Quest Operating Rules for EBT, and is the steward of the ACH Network, a payment system that universally connects all U.S. bank accounts and facilitates the movement of money and information. In 2017, there was a total of nearly 26 billion ACH transactions. Of these, 21.5 billion ACH payments valued at $47 trillion moved across the ACH Network, and more than 4 billion were on-us transactions within financial institutions. Visit nacha.org for more information, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Kendra Beasley, NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association, +1 (703) 561-3923, [email protected]
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