In the U.S., automated clearinghouse origination volumes have been doubling every five years, resulting in significant growth of ACH fraud and network violations. As nearly 2,000 financial institutions originate and another 15,000 recipient institutions participate in more than 15 billion transactions annually, credit unions are sure to see the number of ACH fraud and compliance cases continue to rise.

While NACHA's rules stipulate that the originating depository financial institution is ultimately liable for fraud, receivers should watch incoming ACH traffic vigilantly to detect and report potential issues. The sooner a large-scale fraud incident is identified, the less damage is done.

Because the majority of credit unions are receiving depository financial institutions, these institutions know that monitoring ACH-related fraud and regulations can be time consuming and costly. So how can credit unions deal with the inevitable compliance and fraud risk?