District Circular Letters

March 23, 2001

CREDIT AND RISK MANAGEMENT:
ACCOUNT BALANCE MONITORING
SYSTEM (ABMS) FORMAT CHANGE
AND POSTING ENHANCEMENT

To On-Line Account Holders
in the Twelfth Federal Reserve District

The Federal Reserve Bank has made two changes to the Account Balance Monitoring System (ABMS) that will affect the look of the ABMS and the monitoring of your institution's account.

Addition of Prefunding Automated Clearing House (ACH)

On March 31, 2001, the Federal Reserve System will modify the ABMS screen format by adding a line for prefunding of ACH credit origination amounts. The new line will be labeled "PRFNDACH." Enclosed is an example of the new ABMS screen format (PDF - 13KB).

For most institutions, this modification will not affect daily processing, and the additional line will not reflect a dollar amount. However, an institution that is monitored in real-time will be required to fund forward ACH credit originations in order for them to be processed. If your institution is monitored in real-time, you will be sent additional information on this modification.

You will see this modification beginning April 2, 2001; however, this additional line will not reflect dollar amounts for any institution until prefunding becomes effective late in the second quarter of 2001. Once it is activated, only monitored institutions with ACH credit originations will have dollar amounts posted to this line. The monitored institutions will be notified in advance of the activation date.

Computer Interface Protocol Specifications (CIPS)

If you are an institution that uses a computer interface connection, please refer to CIPS documentation dated November 15, 2000. Migration to the new report format is not required at this time. A computer interface institution will not see the 'PRFNDACH' line on its ABMS report until they have implemented the new CIPS changes. If your institution has not upgraded to the CIPS documentation dated June 9, 1998, you will have to do so by March 31, 2001 because the previous version of CIPS will not be available after that date.

ABMS Posting Enhancement

Currently, funds, book-entry securities transfers, and enhanced net settlement service transactions are reflected in real-time on ABMS. All other accounting activity, such as checks, ACH, and cash is updated every 15 minutes.

Beginning June 4, 2001, an enhancement to the ABMS will provide more timely information on your institution's account balance by updating the other accounting activity lines ("OTHR AVL" and "NON AVL") every five minutes.

For Additional Information

If you have questions regarding the new ABMS report format, please contact Mr. Rick Nippes, Assistant Manager, Credit and Risk Management, at (415) 974-2685. For information regarding the CIPS documentation, please contact Mr. George Larracas, Electronic Product Support Analyst, at (415) 974-2913.

DONALD R. LIEB
Group Vice President

Enclosure (PDF - 13KB)