NACHA, keeper of the governing rules for ACH (among its many roles), reported strong growth in third quarter. The growing economy contributed to the growth in B2B transactions and higher employment created more direct deposit activity:
More than 3.3 billion ACH debit and nearly 2.3 billion ACH credit payments were made in the third quarter of 2018. During this same period, B2B payments increased nearly 10 percent with over 896 million payments completed. Healthcare EFT payments, a healthcare industry standard for claim payments from insurers to providers, also increased by 10 percent to 77 million payments. In addition to B2B growth, online ACH payments increased by 14 percent and totaled 1.5 billion.
“The ACH Network is thriving,” said Jane Larimer, chief operating officer of NACHA. “Governments, financial institutions, businesses and consumers are all reaping the benefits the ACH Network provides.”
The use of ACH to facilitate person to person transactions also grew 32% in the last year.
NACHA reported 192% growth in same day ACH (SDA), which is somewhat expected since SDA was relatively new last year. NACHA also reported SDA growth of 5.6% over last quarter’s volume. With the approval by its membership to increase the per transaction limit to $100,000 and to open more processing windows, the forecast calls for more growth:
As the ACH Network’s growth accelerates, NACHA, its members, and the ACH Network operators continue to enhance the Network’s capabilities to meet the needs of businesses and consumers. Over the next two years, Same Day ACH will be expanded, with faster funds availability, a higher dollar limit, and later processing hours.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group