he Clearing House (formerly the New York Clearing House) and the Chicago Clearing House Association have merged into "The Clearing House." The merger includes check exchanges and ACH (automated clearing house) associations. There are no immediate plans to change operations, and the merger is expected to be completed between now and January 1, 2004.

The Clearing House said the combined check clearing and settlement organization will be among the largest clearing houses in the U.S., with $10.3 billion in daily volume; it will provide settlement services for 245 financial institutions in the Northeast and Midwest.

The affiliated ACH associations joining forces are the Midwest ACH, with 380 financial institution members in Illinois and Indiana, and the Electronic Payments Network with 1,225 members. Together, they'll represent 15% of the regional ACH association membership in the U.S. and will be the second largest of the 19 regional ACH associations.

"There is no question that the banking industry needs to achieve greater efficiencies, evolve from a regional to a national structure, and move from paper to electronic transactions," Robert Fitzgerald, President of the Chicago Clearing House Association said in a statement. "This merger combines our functions and brings together the best expertise, business practices, and efficiency to our members and other customers."

Jeff Neubert, President and CEO of The Clearing House, will continue to serve as President of the combined organizations, which has headquarters in New York and operations in Chicago. Members of the Chicago Clearing House are: Bank One, Bank of America, Cole Taylor Bank, Harris Trust and Savings Bank, LaSalle Bank N.A., The Northern Trust Company and U.S. Bank. The Clearing House is owned by the U.S. commercial banking affiliates of: ABN AMRO, Bank of America, The Bank of New York, Bank One, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Fleet National Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Wachovia and Wells Fargo.

In October, The Clearing House and Western Payments Alliance announced plans to merge their East and West coast-based functions in anticipation of passage of the Check 21 Act.