With 35 billion payments totaling over $93 trillion in 2025—more than 3 times the U.S. GDP—and with double-digit growth for Same Day ACH as it heads into its tenth year, the vital ACH Network showed once again that it circulates the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Learn more about how this venerable, dynamic network continues to grow and adapt to evolving business and consumer needs.

Speakers:

Jason Carone, AAP, AFPP, APRP, CTP, The Clearing House

Kathleen Davis, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Devon Marsh, APRP, Nacha

Stablecoins are no longer theoretical they're in wallets, on payment rails, and increasingly under regulatory scrutiny. This panel brings together experts from banking, fintech, policy, and blockchain infrastructure to explore the rapid rise of stablecoins and what it means for the future of payments. Topics will include key types of stablecoins (fiat-backed, algorithmic, tokenized deposits), merchant and consumer use cases, and how these assets intersect with traditional payment networks. Panelists will debate critical questions around trust, interoperability, compliance, and innovation as the lines between digital money and traditional finance continue to blur. Expect an engaging and pragmatic conversation grounded in real-world impact.

Speakers:

Peter Tapling, AFPP, APRP, PTap Advisory, LLC

Molly Woodman, Digital Sovereignty Alliance

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Tags: Stablecoin, Compliance, Digital

Small and medium-sized businesses are navigating an increasingly fragmented financial landscape—often using multiple banks, fintechs, and standalone tools to manage cash flow, payments, invoicing, and payroll. The result is higher costs, operational inefficiency, and limited visibility into cash position. In this session, we’ll unpack new SMB survey data and market research that reveals how much SMBs are really spending across their financial stack, where fragmentation is creating the most pain, and why many financial institutions are underestimating both the size of the opportunity and the risk of inaction.

Speaker:

Blake Facer, Fiserv

ACH account validation is a compliance requirement in some ACH payment use cases, and more importantly, it can significantly reduce ACH returns and the associated costs. In this session, attendees will learn account validation best practices to drive payment efficiencies, explore how leveraging network-based solutions can support the exchange and validation of payment-related information for more accurate transactions, understand how improved validation processes can reduce administrative return rates caused by incorrect or incomplete account information, and gain insights into ACH return rules and broader industry trends shaping account validation and payments risk management.

Speakers:

Charles Ellert, Nacha

Leah Huey, AAP, Nacha

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Tags: Validation, Compliance, Payments in Practice. Returns

Financial Institutions and their originators are experiencing an increase in First Party Fraud. Fraudsters understand Regulation E and are becoming familiar with the ACH Network Rules for returning debit items as unauthorized transactions, rules that are in place to protect consumers and businesses from debit fraud but are being abused by false claims on legitimate transactions. Hear from the network's Risk Management Advisory Group (RMAG) about the RMAG First Party Fraud Survey results and the experiences of financial institutions and efforts to identify first party fraud and stem the losses from this type of activity. Learn what the Network is doing to support Financial Institutions and originators in their fight against false claims while protecting receivers from real debit fraud.

Speakers:

Jordan Bennett, AAP, APRP, Nacha

Joseph Casali, AAP, AFPP, APRP, MBA, NEACH

Steve Gray, Huntington National Bank

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Tags: Cybersecurity, Risk, Fraud, Regulation E

Research is being conducted into how financial institutions compete and win in payments, with a particular lens on innovation and differentiators. This session will provide valuable learnings from research, covering all points along the value chain, and across all payment rails, into how financial institutions compete and win in payments, with a particular lens on innovation and differentiators. The speaker will focus on what financial institutions believe to be standout feature for their institutions and where feel they are doing great things as well as what lessons financial institutions can learn from these findings, highlighting the strategies for success, from culture to technology to operations, and where the industry is heading.

Speaker:

Gareth Lodge. Celent

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. \

Tags: Disruptive Ideas & Technologies

AI is no longer a future-state concept. Instead, it is becoming a critical enabler of smarter, faster, and more resilient payment operations. In this session, we examine how organizations can harness AI to unlock insights from complex payment data, drive higher levels of straight-through processing, and transform the client service experience. This session will highlight emerging use cases across ACH, real-time payments, and cross-border environments. The session will also address evolving risk and compliance considerations, ensuring AI adoption aligns with regulatory expectations and sound governance frameworks. Attendees will leave with strategic insights and practical approaches to embedding AI into their payments ecosystem.

Speakers:

Tapan Agrawal, Intellect Design Arena Limited

Tom Antony, Intellect Design Arena Limited

Mark Dixon, AAP, AFPP, APRP, CTP, NCP, Nacha

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Tags: AI Innovations, ACH, Real-time, Cross-Border, Risk, Compliance

ACH remains a foundational force in the U.S. payments ecosystem, moving trillions in volume each year, yet it is often overlooked in conversations about innovation. This session challenges that perception by highlighting how financial institutions and fintechs are modernizing the ACH experience to meet evolving demands. Attendees will explore advancements in same-day ACH, API-based initiation, fraud detection, and enriched remittance data, while learning how organizations are embedding ACH into broader payment experiences to deliver the right solution for each use case without added complexity. The session will also examine how evolving rules, shifting expectations, and increased collaboration across the industry are driving a new wave of innovation, positioning ACH as a strategic and resilient component of the future payments landscape.

Speaker:

Nimit Khare, Citibank N.A.

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Tags: ACH, Fraud Detection, 

Corporates and financial institutions often face overlapping, but uniquely experienced challenges in the payments space. This panel will examine shared pain points, including automation, modernization, compliance, and inefficiencies, while exploring how these issues impact organizations and the broader payments ecosystem. Panelists will also address the language barrier between financial institutions and corporations often driven by different priorities and how rethinking payments as a strategic function can uncover simple, effective solutions. Speakers will share insights to assist bridge these challenges.

Speakers:

See Lor, U.S. Bank

Olivia Maciel, AAP, APRP, Nacha

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Tags: Payments in Practice, Modernization, Compliance

As more financial institutions consider onboarding to faster payment rails one thing is clear, going live doesn't automatically mean you're ready. In this practical, peer-led session, attendees will hear from financial institutions at different stages of instant payments implementation about their journey and experience. This diverse panel will explore what truly goes into operational readiness, from technical integration and exception handling to fraud controls, staffing, client education, and cross-functional coordination. Attendees, especially those at financial institutions and credit unions, will leave with a realistic understanding of the challenges and milestones to expect when launching instant payments, along with actionable best practices to avoid common pitfalls and accelerate their own roadmap.

*This recording is not eligible for continuing education credits. 

Speakers:

Ashley Hastings, Santander Bank, N.A.

Srirman Iyer, Cross River Bank

Dustin Martin, U.S. Bank

Miriam Sheril, AFPP, Form3

Tags: Instant Payments, Fraud, Client Education