The change was made to comply with NCUA requirements for the AIRES format.  (We performed a beta-test of this with the NCUA in June 2021.)  If you are having trouble sending those files to third parties such as your ALM provider, you will either need to make any adjustment to the file before sending it (instructions below), or contact your provider and ask them to adjust for the new NCUA format.

The change that was made affected the number of fields (columns) on the report.  Previously the AIRES file contained 20 fields for shares and 39 fields for loans. Based on NCUA requirements a column has now been removed from the shares format, bringing the number down to 19 fields for shares.

One solution would be to adjust the file before sending it to your vendor:  While converting the AIRES text file to a CSV (comma delimited) file in Excel, place an x in cell T1 of the spreadsheet.  With the x in column T, the system would recognize the report having 20 fields and the import would work as before.

We do recommend, however, that you contact your vendor to see if a permanent adjustment can be made on their end.