Stronghold joins Nacha’s Payments innovation alliance

By Edlyn Cardoza

Stronghold, a financial technology infrastructure company, recently announced it has joined Nacha’s Payments Innovation Alliance. This influential group of payments industry participants supports advancements across the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network and throughout the payments system within the U.S. and worldwide. The Alliance is a membership group that is part of Nacha, the ACH Network’s governing organization, that drives and guides innovation through discussion, education, project teams, resource development, and other initiatives.

Stronghold’s mission to provide fast, secure, and accessible financial services for all, also aligns with the Alliance’s focus on removing barriers as the industry evolves. Stronghold’s virtual payment network ecosystem, StrongholdNET, enables interoperability between existing and emerging payments technology.

“Increasing access to the ACH Network has been a significant factor in Stronghold’s early growth and success,” said Tammy Camp, CEO and co-founder of Stronghold. “We welcome the opportunity to work with a diverse range of payments stakeholders towards our vision of building a more inclusive, stable, and connected global economy.”

According to the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Payments Study, from 2015 to 2018 the number of ACH payments grew by 6% and the value of these payments grew by 7.2%, making ACH one of the fastest growing payment rails in the United States. According to Nacha, in 2020, nearly 27 billion ACH Network payments were made, valued at close to $62 trillion. In the third quarter of 2021, the ACH Network processed 7.3 billion payments (amounting to 520 million more than the same time in 2020). The value of those payments was $18.1 trillion, an increase of 13.8% from a year earlier. B2B payments have also increased 18.7%, to 1.4 billion payments.

Stronghold creates virtual payment networks that enable developers to access legacy and next-generation payment networks, all through a simple API. Nacha is a non-profit 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 governs the thriving ACH Network, the payment system that drives safe, smart, and fast Direct Deposits and Direct Payments with the capability to reach all U.S. bank and credit union accounts. Nearly 27 billion ACH Network payments were made in 2020, valued at close to $62 trillion. Through problem-solving and consensus-building among diverse payment industry stakeholders, Nacha advances innovation and interoperability in the payments system. Nacha develops rules and standards, provides industry solutions, and delivers education, accreditation, and advisory services.