Braid Technologies, Inc., Greenfield Savings Bank, People's Credit Union, and Pidgin Recognized for Impact on Payments

Today, the New England Automated Clearing House (NEACH) announced the winners of its NEACH Excellence Awards, which showcase outstanding payments contributions in leadership, products, or services to the financial services industry. As members of NEACH, award recipients display critical characteristics that support the transformation of payments through innovation, dedication, and excellence.

“The NEACH Excellence Awards are designed to recognize the hard work of the financial institutions and businesses in New England and throughout the U.S.,” said Sean Carter, AAP, APRP, NCP, President and CEO, NEACH. “We are fortunate to have such a diverse pool of industry-leading financial institutions who partner with organizations who can help them succeed, and we are thrilled to honor those who have stepped up this year.”

This year, recipients were acknowledged in four categories:

• The Big Ideas in Innovation Award recognizes the outstanding contribution of organizations transforming the financial industry and payments. This year’s recipient is Braid Technologies, Inc. for its work in developing technology that helps drive financial institution (FI) revenue. In the words of one nominator, Braid “believes in the little guy” and has developed a platform to support community FIs in FinTech collaborations. With each of its FI customers, Braid installs a dedicated instance of the platform to a cloud environment that the individual bank controls, teaches the bank team how to operate the platform, and provides ongoing technical, operational, and compliance support—making FinTech relationships more manageable at the individual FI level.

• The President’s Award distinguishes an organization that has made significant achievements in the innovation, development, implementation, or advancement of electronic payments for the benefit of its customers or members. In 2024, NEACH honors Pidgin with the President’s Award for its visionary leadership in supporting faster payments adoption. As a faster payments platform with a unique administration portal, user-centric front-end applications, and developer-friendly APIs, Pidgin addresses the market’s growing demand for instant and real-time payment options and helps financial institutions more quickly introduce faster payments.

• The Rising Star Award acknowledges an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership. With the 2024 award, NEACH celebrates Tiffany Costa, Head of Digital Delivery and Deposit Services, at People's Credit Union, for ensuring her institution has emerged on the forefront of digital payments. With the support of her team, Costa recently instituted a suite of cash management products including positive pay and RDC, is currently working on a project to setup infrastructure to support business ACH origination and has helped the institution introduce receive-only RTP^®, with an eye on incorporating send functionality in the next year.

• New in 2024: The Community Impact Award honors a company that is making a significant contribution to their community through time, actions, talents, dedication, and/or resources. For its first-ever recipient, NEACH recognizes the work of Greenfield Savings Bank. Making more than $1 million in donations to the local community, the bank not only offers financial support but ensures its staff have time off to volunteer, serve on local boards, and so much more. Community support sits at the heart of their decision-making and guides the bank in all they do.

“We serve some of the most progressive, forward-thinking organizations in the country,” said Elyssa Morgan, AAP, APRP, Vice President, Membership, NEACH. “Their dedication to payments means they are consistently incorporating innovative technologies, solutions, and ideas into their offerings, making a difference for their customers and members and the communities they support. We congratulate all of this year’s winners and look forward to seeing what they’ll do next.”

For fifty years, NEACH has provided financial institutions in the Northeast with timely and accurate information about payments opportunities, risks, and compliance, paving the way for payments excellence. Nationally, NEACH represents its members by participating in rulemaking, joining critical industry groups, and serving as the voice of its members on all payments-related issues. In addition, NEACH supports industry growth and development through NEACH U, its educational institution; monthly educational opportunities like webinars; accreditation programs; and much more. For more information, visit NEACH.org.

About NEACH

The New England Automated Clearing House (NEACH) is a non-profit association that helps members originate and receive ACH transactions, and provides products, services, education, and marketing to increase the acceptance, use and quality of electronic transactions. For more information or to join NEACH, visit neach.org.

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