Nacha starts year 50 with a bang

Fifty years in the making, and the ACH is finally becoming a preferred payment mechanism, especially when money needs to get someplace fast. Not instantaneously, but, typically, within hour.

Nacha reported that same-day ACH payments increased by 47 percent during the first quarter of 2024, compared with the same period last year. Business-to-business (B2B) payments also registered a significant increase – 10.8 percent, Nacha said.

Consumer-initiated debits—resulting from consumers asking their banks to send money to payees, also known as "push payments"—rose 7.4 percent from 2022, totaling 2.6 billion payments valued at $1.5 trillion. These debits accounted for 56.6 percent of all ACH debits in the first quarter, Nacha said.
 Altogether, 8.2 billion payments were sent through the ACH during the first three months of the year, worth a total value of $801 trillion. Most (4.6 billion) were debits, in which payees request payments be sent from a payor accounts; 3.6 billion were credits.

B2B payments continued to grow. In all, 6.59 ACH items were categorized as B2B during the first quarter of 2024, worth a total of $54.20 trillion.

Significant debit growth

Nacha said it is seeing ongoing steady growth now that the ACH is positioned as more than a means for direct deposit and other consumer applications where speed is not of the essence. After all, the ACH originally was created as an electronic alternative to checks, so processing times of two to three days were not uncommon, especially in the early years.

In all, the ACH saw a compounded annual gain of 5.57 percent in terms of transaction volume and 7.18 percent growth in value between 2014 and 2023. Overall growth during that period amounted to 71.88 percent from a volume perspective and 100.13 percent in value.

These represent huge gains for a payment network that had for years been used primarily for debit applications like dues and fees in addition to direct deposit. The debut of same-day ACH in 2016 changed all that by allowing for payments to be processed during several daily cycles, resulting in same-day processing and settlement times. Same-day ACH notched up 1.3 million payments in its first six months.

"As strong adoption of same-day ACH continues, Nacha will work with stakeholders across the payment community to keep this faster payment method moving forward," said Jane Larimer, Nacha president and CEO. "As Nacha marks its 50th anniversary in 2024, these numbers show the ACH network is a vital part of the payments landscape, and one with a bright future indeed."

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.