New X9 Working Group Will Develop Standard for ATM Transaction Clearing; Participants Sought

ANNAPOLIS, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today the Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. (X9) announced the creation of a new working group focused on standards and technical reports for ATM (automated teller machine) operations. Its first effort is to develop a standardized transaction clearing process that will be applied when bank customers carry out transactions at ATMs. Interested parties are invited to join X9 and participate in the new group.

Following a customer's withdrawal or deposit at an ATM, a transaction clearing process moves funds electronically, often via external payment networks and processors, reimbursing the ATM owner (if other than the customer's bank) for cash dispensed and any fees, and recording the necessary adjustments to accounts. Frequently including a back-end batch process for account reconciliation, it may take a day or two for transaction clearing to be completed.

At present, there are no U. S. standards that specifically apply to this area -- every bank or ATM owner can utilize a different proprietary method to audit and settle transactions, and this precludes any sort of interoperability as well as adding complexity and delay to the procedure. A standardized approach will result in savings and efficiency for financial services firms, while improving accuracy and response times for consumers.

The new group proposes to develop a method for product-agnostic ATM servicing that will deliver the same experience across all models of ATMs. By standardizing receipt format and ATM transaction clearing sequencing when cash is delivered, the financial services industry will see lowered risks and costs, while at the same time improving the customer experience. A common service quality standard will reduce risk in vaults and out-of-balance conditions on financial ledgers. Hardware and software providers will be able to optimize their offerings against a standard servicing interface rather than having to adapt to differing customer requirements.

"Everyone is familiar with what happens when we get money from an ATM – it's much the same experience no matter what bank is used. But what goes on behind the scenes to finish and record the process can vary wildly, making it hard for those involved (such as issuers, acquirers and processors) to optimize efficiency, risks and costs," said X9 Executive Director Steve Stevens. "The first effort by our new working group aims to remedy this situation with standards for ATM audit and transaction clearing."

About the Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc.

The Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. is a non-profit organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop and maintain national and through ISO international standards for the financial services industry. The subjects of X9's standards include: retail, mobile and business payments; corporate treasury functions; blockchain technology; processing of electronic legal orders issued to financial institutions; tracking of financial transactions and instruments; financial transaction messaging (ISO 8583 and 20022); quantum computing; AI, QR code secure payments; checks; cloud; data breach notification and more. In addition, X9 is the governing body for a family of X9 Financial PKI products issued by DigiCert.

X9 acts as the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for ISO TC68 (Financial Services) and performs the secretariat functions for ISO TC68. Please visit our website (www.x9.org) for more information.

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