Our Journey

When two California clearing houses teamed up in 1891 to form the California Bankers Association, Western Payments Alliance was born. The special committees formed at that time to address with projects of statewide interest to its members were the foundation for the committees we have in place today.

Over the past 125 years, we have expanded our geographic footprint, continuing our strong commitment to member service.

1876 & 1887

The San Francisco and Los Angeles clearing houses were established to provide payments-related services to the region.

1891

The San Francisco and Los Angeles two clearing houses joined together to form the California Bankers Association. Special committees were formed to deal with projects of interest to their members.

1968

A special committee on Paperless Entries was formed to consider the possibilities of using computer entries to replace paper checks and deposit slips between members.

1972

The Special Committee on Paperless Entries was converted into the California Automated Clearing House Association (CACHA), providing the first operational ACH in the United States.

1979

The San Francisco and Los Angeles Clearing Houses merged to form the California Bankers Clearing House Association.

1993

CACHA’s expanding membership led to renaming the association Western Payments Alliance, or WesPay.

2000

Western Payments Alliance and The California Bankers Clearing House merge, bringing together their check and ACH expertise.

2003

WesPay divests check clearing services to The Clearing House.

Today

WesPay is a nonprofit financial trade association that serves as the voice and resource for approximately 1000 member financial institutions throughout the Western U.S. and Pacific regions.