Trade Show/Association Update

NACHA creates new e-check application; 2001 XML on Wall Street announces speakers; CARTES 2001 Congress, a show devoted to smart cards, to take place in Paris.

National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) has approved the creation of a new e-check application to convert paper checks into electronic Automated Clearing House (ACH) debits at remittance and lockbox locations.

The rules governing this e-check application, known as the Accounts Receivable (ARC) application, become effective on March 15, 2002, and replace a pilot program that NACHA has been coordinating since December 1999. Under the new rules, a paper check that a consumer mails to a biller's remittance or lockbox location, or delivers to a dropbox location, may be converted into an ACH debit. At the remittance location, the biller electronically captures payment information, including the routing number and account number. The payment information is then used to create an e-check to the consumer's account.

"The Accounts Receivable application allows a billing company to take advantage of the inherent efficiencies of electronic payment processing, while allowing consumers to continue to use checks if they choose," said Elliott C. McEntee, president and CEO of NACHA. "With billions of checks sent to accounts receivable locations every year, the use of e-checks can substantially reduce payment processing costs."

For more information, visit www.nacha.org.

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Speakers have been announced for the 2001 XML on Wall Street conference and exposition, which will take place at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City on November 20.

The speaker lineup includes: JP Rangaswami, CIO, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein; Jean-Francois Abramatic, Senior VP R&D at ILOG and Chairman of W3C; Jeremy Lehman, Chief Technologist, Financial Markets, Microsoft; Mark Hunt, Director of XML Strategy at Reuters; Bob Sutor, Director of XML Standards Strategy at IBM; John Goeller, Director at CSFB and Chairman of ISO WG10; Jim Lowe, COO of Random Walk Computing; and Bob Miller, CEO, Slam Dunk Networks

For further information, including conference program, speaker bios and the list of exhibitors, see www.xmlonwallstreet.com.

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The CARTES 2001 Congress, an international trade show and conference on smart cards and smart card technology, will be held this year at the CNIT exposition center, located in La Defense, just west of Paris, from October 23-25.

More than 1,500 delegates are expected to attend, and will be offered 17 different conferences that will accompany the exhibition of companies displaying the latest in smart card technology.

Full information on CARTES 2001 is available at www.cartes.com.