ACH records 6.1% growth in the fourth quarter in payments volume
Automated Clearing House (ACH) which is operated by US industry consortium Nacha has reported a rise of 6.1% in payments volume backed by growth in healthcare and business-to-business payments.
The company noted that there were 7.5 billion ACH payments recorded in Q4 2021, which is 426 million more than the same period last year. This is valued at $18.6 trillion, an increase of 13.4% respectively.
“The fourth-quarter results reaffirm what we have been seeing almost from the start of the pandemic: a sustained move to electronic payments among businesses, consumers and governments,” said Jane Larimer, Nacha President and CEO.
As reported in a press release, the B2B component of ACH increased by 17.4% which the company says ‘were on the rise even before the pandemic accelerated the move away from paper checks’.
The growth in the ACH payment rail comes amid increasing corporate frustration about the high cost of accepting card payments. Last year, Nacha announces its first live transaction with the Phixius platform.
Same-day ACH payments also rose at 75.1% in volumes and 92.9% in payments value with 169.3 million payments valued at $268.4 billion.
“Businesses are increasingly seeing the power of Same Day ACH as a safe and reliable way to make faster payments,” said Larimer.
Back in Q1 2021, Nacha made an announcement that the ACH network would increase the per payment limit to $1 million in March 2021.
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