When Nacha updated its ACH rules on March 20, it coincided nicely with Socure’s expansion of its Bank Account Verification capabilities. Now available across more than 30 countries, Bank Account Verification allows organizations to verify bank accounts across dozens of major global markets — enabling secure cross-border payments, global payroll, marketplace disbursements, lending, refunds, peer-to-peer transfers, and account-to-account payments.
Socure’s head of product management, Ori Snir, said Bank Account Verification checks whether an account is active and can receive funds, whether it is associated with prior negative activity, and whether it belongs to the stated user and has not been accessed by malicious actors.
“The goal is to protect banks, fintechs, credit unions, and end users from having accounts compromised and used for things they didn’t intend to use them for,” Snir said.
Socure’s response to Nacha changes
Snir said the Nacha rules were somewhat vague before March 20. They mandated that institutions ensure an account was open and in good standing before it received funds; little else was required.
Post-March 20, institutions must do more to stop fraud. More robust protection and verification measures must be taken. Snir said Socure’s response includes verifying that the device is matched to the actual owner.
That should be welcome news to sports betting, cryptocurrency, and prediction market enthusiasts, Snir said. They need immediate access should they sense a change in a game or event. Anything delaying activity, such as test microdeposits, longer clearing windows, or transfer to another site, drives them elsewhere. Should a company acquiesce to speed, they risk being defrauded.
Socure’s response is an embedded process that the end user doesn’t see. They’re either verified or rejected within seconds.
Snir said that immediacy is paramount. Socure does so by maintaining large internal data banks from more than 3,000 banking, fintech, BNPL, prediction markets, and other providers. Not having to transfer data from outside sources saves time. Working on top of FedNow and some of the other popular rails also helps.
Behind the scenes, Socure deposits 1 cent into the receiving account but doesn’t request a user response or code. Snir said that wasn’t possible before these newer networks came online.
Faster money movement brings risk, especially with international transfers, Snir said. That speed attracts criminals seeking to exploit any compromises between speed and security.
Other key factors include the growth of AI. It makes it easier and faster to commit fraud. Some types of first-party fraud, in which users exploit provisional credit and delayed clearing windows to open multiple accounts, are also growing. Snir said the industry as a whole must also improve its ability to protect legitimate users from phishing and related scams.