Same-day ACH will soon be a reality for U.S. financial institutions, and the change could mean that certain product offerings and new data about members may become much more lucrative for credit unions.

On May 19, the Electronic Payments Association gave the green light to same-day ACH, increasing the movement of funds between financial institutions from once a day to three times per day. The new rules, which are largely based on rules proposed late last year, take effect in three phases beginning Sep. 23, 2016. Among other things, they require all receiving depository financial institutions (RDFIs) to accept same-day transactions and require originating depository financial institutions (ODFIs) to pay a $0.052 fee per transaction.

The ACH network is the backbone of the electronic payments system, which is why changes to it often ripple through the entire financial ecosystem. In the first quarter of 2015 alone, the ACH network did 4.72 billion transactions, moving $10.2 trillion, an increase of 5.3% and 3.9%, respectively, versus during the first quarter of 2015, according to NACHA.