Same-day payments drive ACH increase: Nacha

Dive Brief:

The ACH Network’s volume rose 4.8% last year over 2022 to 31.5 billion payments, said Nacha, the national clearinghouse that manages electronic money movement. The value of those payments increased 4.4% to $80.1 trillion, according to a Wednesday press release from Nacha.
As part of that volume increase, the number of same-day transactions jumped 22.3% over 2022 to 853.4 million payments. Their value spiked 41.2% year-over-year to $2.4 trillion, according to Nacha.
In Q4 2023, the ACH Network saw ACH payments volume and value rise 5.8% and 5.6% to 8.1 billion and $20.5 trillion, respectively. As part of that growth, fourth-quarter same-day ACH payments volume and value surged 41% and 31.5% to 255.8 million payments and $662 billion, respectively, per the press release.

Dive Insight:

The ACH Network is managed by Nacha and its operators are the Federal Reserve banks and The Clearing House, which is owned by major U.S. banks.

Same-day ACH payment volume grew at a faster pace compared to the prior quarter in 2023. Nacha previously reported a 20% year-over-year increase in Q3 same-day ACH payment volume and a 27.1% jump in same-day payment value to $608 billion.

The growth rate of ACH Network payments overall in Q4 also slightly outpaced the previous quarter. ACH Network payment volume rose 3% from Q3 2023 to 7.8 billion. The value of those payments saw a 2.6% year-over-year increase to $19.7 trillion.

“The results speak loud and clear: Payments system users are embracing Same Day ACH,” Nacha CEO Jane Larimer said in the statement regarding the full 2023 results. “Same Day ACH is helping meet the nation’s faster payments needs, with uses from payroll to insurance claims, account transfers and more.”

P2P volume last year grew 11.9% over 2022 to 330 million, according to Nacha’s release. That was slower than the 25.1% rate logged in the fourth quarter.

As peer-to-peer payments rise, research suggests that P2P users are vulnerable to fraud. A recent AARP survey of 2,014 adults found that roughly a fifth of adults using peer-to-peer payments in the past year have been either a victim or “intended victim” of “financial exploitation.” Of those targeted, 59% said they lost money.