NACHA ACH Payments Volume Tops 2 Billion

ACH Network volume surpassed 2 billion transactions in August, an increase of more than 10 percent compared to the previous year. NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association said the value of the payments was $4.5 trillion, an increase of 12 percent compared to last year.

“The ACH Network is thriving, and has achieved a milestone of more than 2 billion payments in one month,” said Jane Larimer, chief operating officer of NACHA. “This impressive growth demonstrates that businesses and consumers are choosing to use ACH payments.”

These numbers mean that the ACH Network is on track to add more than 1 billion new payments for the fourth consecutive year. One key factor responsible for the growth is a 24 percent increase in internet-initiated transactions, which include bill payments and account-to-account transfers, making up 27 percent of ACH Network volume. In addition, business-to-business (B2B) ACH payments grew by more than 13 percent and comprise 16 percent of ACH Network volume.

ACH has seen its share of growth over the past year. In July, NACHA announced that debit and credit transactions totaled more than 5.7 billion in the second quarter of 2018 alone, a 6.2 percent increase from the second quarter of last year. The increase represents one of its highest growth rates since 2008.

“The ACH Network provides substantial value to everyone who sends or receives payments, including businesses, consumers, governments and financial institutions,” Larimer said at the time. “Another strong quarterly performance demonstrates how vital the ACH Network is to the U.S. economy.”

According to NACHA, there were more than 3.3 billion ACH debit transactions and close to 2.4 billion ACH credit transactions made in the second quarter of this year. In addition, close to 1.5 billion internet transactions were made, representing a 14.3 percent increase; B2B transactions totaled 889 million, up 8.6 percent; and person-to-person (P2P) transactions were more than 29 million.

“More people than ever before are enjoying the benefits of Same Day ACH,” Larimer added. “As the adoption of Same Day ACH continues to grow, NACHA will seek to continue to expand the capabilities of Same Day ACH and the ACH Network.”