ACH network sees major gains in payments supported by B2B and same day payments
The Automated Clearing House, which is operated by US industry consortium Nacha has revealed that in 2021, its network recorded 29.1 billion payments valuing those at $72.6 trillion. The same day ACH payments volume grew by 74% compared to previous year.
The ACH payments volume as a whole grew by 8.7% or 2.3 billion which the company says is the seventh consecutive year of payments growth.
Amongst the growth engines were business-to-business (B2B). The payments volume of B2B payments was 5.3 billion valued at $50 trillion. This is an increase of 20.4% over 2020. The growth comes as merchants express growing disquiet over the cost of card payments.
The company noted the growth in B2B payments is due to ‘pandemic fast-tracked businesses’ switching to ACH payments’ and also noted over the past two years, the ACH B2B payments are up by 33.2%.
“Our latest Same Day ACH enhancement takes effect March 18, 2022: an increase in the per payment limit to $1 million, making Same Day ACH available for even greater use,” said Jane Larimer, Nacha President and CEO.
The same day ACH were clocked at 603.8 million valuing them at $943.7 billion.
“Operating hours for Same Day ACH were extended in March 2021, with the ACH Network now settling payments four times a day”, the press note stated.
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