NACHA to acquire Business Payments Directory Association

The union will strategically align the efforts of the two organizations to facilitate B2B payments through development and deployment of a B2B Payments and Remittance Directory.

In August 2018, Business Payments Directory Association (BPDA), partnered with Discover Financial Services, to work on a proof-of-concept platform for a B2B Directory, built on blockchain technology. The alliance will help support and advance the proof-of-concept effort to ensure rapid delivery to the industry.

As a strategic initiative, NACHA works to enable solutions that will support the easy routing, posting, and application of ACH and other payments, particularly in the B2B environment.

The B2B Directory will be structured as a network of credentialed service provider sub-directories, in which trusted and validated payee information will be stored. Credentialed service providers will allow access to the stored electronic payment information, including ACH payment details and other payment methods. Payers can query the Directory to obtain information of a single payee or multiple payees. At the same time, payees can manage their information in real time to ensure payment details are current.

To support the capabilities of the Directory, the platform will leverage open source technologies, blockchain or distributed ledger technology, and standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) developed by the member-led organization Afinis Interoperability Standards – formerly Known as the API Standardization Industry Group.