Effective January 1, 1978, an automated clearinghouse in this state shall permit direct access to or membership in such clearinghouse by any financial institution if such access is not prohibited by any rule or regulation of the federal reserve board and if the financial institution agrees to abide by the rules of the clearinghouse. For purposes of this section, "automated clearinghouse" means a group of financial institutions or banks which have agreed to abide by certain rules and procedures for the purpose of exchanging payments and settling balances of participating financial institutions on computer tape to accomplish settlement of transactions by posting credits and debits to reserve balances maintained by member banks of the federal reserve systems through the federal reserve system.
Source: L. 77: Entire article added, p. 554, § 3, effective May 20.