JoPACC, the Jordan Payments and Clearing Company, recently upgraded the Automated Clearing House (ACH), which has operated on the ISO20022 since its initial launch in 2016. This upgrade comes in line with JoPACC’s ongoing role in enhancing payments infrastructure through the deployment of an efficient, secure, and safe digital payments infrastructure in the kingdom. This upgrade was implemented in collaboration with CMA Small Systems, the ACH system’s supplier.

Since its launch, the ACH system has been designed to facilitate and accelerate low-value, high-volume credit and direct debit financial transfers between banks operating in Jordan. The system supports various use cases that banks can offer to their clients, such as salary transfers for employees and retirees, dividend disbursements, and vendor payments, among other use cases.

This upgrade enhanced several key areas, including the 24/7 basis operations, security (implementation of digital signature), efficiency, and performance, while keeping pace with the increasing volume of digital payments. By adopting the ISO 20022 messaging standard, the upgrade also streamlines banks’ processes and ensures compatibility with the latest ISO20022 messages’ versions, as JoPACC has deployed certain ISO messages and discontinued outdated ones, but key financial message content to preserve the integrity of the financial transactions such as the IBANs, the full names, and addresses of both the debtor and creditor, remains intact.

The Central Bank of Jordan and all banks operating in the kingdom were involved in this upgrade. Their role included developing and integrating their internal systems to support and accommodate the new messaging standards and versions and the 24/7 operations.

It is worth mentioning that the ACH system supports single and batch credit transfers, direct debit transfers, and a robust mandate management module that fully supports e-mandates in four different currencies: JOD, USD, EUR, and GBP. Additionally, the system includes a fee module that can digitize and automate the end-to-end processes and reconciliation.