HERNDON, Va.– ACH Network volume saw its biggest quarterly growth in more than a decade during the fourth quarter of 2018, while same-day ACH payments also passed a significant milestone, according to newly released data.
More than 5.9 billion ACH payments were made in the final quarter of 2018: 3.5 billion debits and 2.4 billion credits, NACHA is reporting. That’s up 8.7% from the same time in 2017, and is the highest quarterly growth rate in 11 years, the association said.
Moreover, during the fourth quarter same-day ACH volume was more than 51.3 million payments, marking the first time same-day ACH payments surpassed the 50 million threshold, NACHA reported. Same-day ACH volume increased 46% over the fourth quarter of 2017.
“The ACH Network is stronger than ever,” said NACHA Chief Operating Officer Jane Larimer in a statement. “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.”
NACHA further reported the fourth quarter of 2018 saw overall ACH Network volume grow by nearly half a billion transactions compared to a year earlier. There were strong volume gains in several major transaction types, including an 11.5% increase in business-to-business (B2B) payments, to 930 million, a 14.5% rise in internet transactions, to 1.6 billion, and a nearly 47% jump in person-to-person (P2P) payments, to 37.9 million.