ACH Payments Grow 8.7 Pct In Q4

During the fourth quarter of 2018, ACH Network volume saw more growth than it has in the last decade, according to the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), which noted same-day ACH payments also reached a new level.

Upwards of 5.9 billion ACH payments happened in Q4 last year, including 3.5 billion debits and about 2.4 billion credits. That’s an increase of 8.7 percent from a year ago, and highest growth rate in 11 years.

Same-day payments hit the 51.3 million mark, which is the first time that count has ever passed 50 million. Same-day ACH payment volume also increased by 46 percent over Q4 of 2017.

“The ACH Network is stronger than ever,” NACHA Chief Operating Officer Jane Larimer said. “There is robust growth across many ACH transaction types, and the numbers for Same Day ACH show it is being embraced by consumers, businesses and financial institutions.”

Overall ACH Network volume increased by almost half of a billion transactions when compared to a year before. A lot of the gains were in specific transaction types — an 11.5 percent increase in business-to-business (B2B) payments, which equals 930 million; a 14.5 percent increase in transactions on the internet, equalling 1.6 billion; and an increase of 47 percent, to a total of 37.9 million, in person-to-person (P2P) payments.

In November, NACHA’s Payments Innovation Alliance released a report with details from its first formal in-person meeting of the Faster Payments Playbook Project Team.

Launched in June 2018, the Faster Payments Playbook Project Team is made up of nearly 60 volunteers comprising of a diverse set of participants that include financial institutions, technology providers, associations, networks and businesses.

The meeting, which took place last month during the larger Alliance meeting in Washington, D.C., served as an opportunity for the team to provide reports on their work. The Faster Payments Playbook will give tools for financial institutions and business end users that will enable them to have a better understanding on faster payments.