Dive Brief:

• The Clearing House’s ACH payments volume climbed 7.9% last year, over 2022, to 19.44 billion payments, according to data issued by TCH this month. Meanwhile, the value of those transactions increased 6.7% to $52.4 trillion, according to a March 12 press release.
• That TCH volume grew at a faster rate than the 4.8% reported last month by Nacha, which tallies automated payments processed by TCH and the Federal Reserve. That means TCH’s volume was growing at a faster rate than the Fed’s ACH volume too.
• “The desire from businesses and consumers for easier and faster electronic payments is driving the increase in ACH payments along with instant payments, and we do not see this trend slowing in the years to come,” TCH Senior Vice President Jason Carone said. He oversees ACH product management.

Dive Insight:

Nacha oversees the ACH Network, while The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve act as ACH operators for payments processing. Nacha reported overall 2023 volume of 31.5 billion payments valued at $80.1 trillion.

The Clearing House, which is owned by a group of major U.S. banks, reported 2022 payments volume of 18.02 billion in payments, valued at $49.1 trillion, according to a spokesman for the company.

A significant portion of the TCH’s electronic payments network flow was for businesses. “EPN carried approximately half of overall 2023 U.S. ACH commercial volume and has averaged 7.4% growth since 2021, as businesses and consumers continue to embrace electronic payments,” the TCH spokesperson said by email.

The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve compete to process banks’ digital payments. TCH and the Fed opened up a new front in that competition last year when the Federal Reserve launched FedNow, a real-time payments system that took on TCH’s RTP Network.

Despite ratcheting up the rivalry, it appears that FedNow prompted more activity on TCH’s real-time payments network. The Clearing House reported a 44% jump in its real-time payments processing for last year, with volume rising to 247.6 million payments processed, from 172.5 million in 2022, according to figures provided by the TCH spokesperson. The value of those TCH’s payments also rose last year, climbing 67% to $127.2 billion.

The Clearing House currently has signed up 565 banks for its RTP system, according to the spokesman, while the Fed last week said it had 607 banks participating in FedNow.

A spokesperson for Nacha declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Fed didn’t respond to a request for comment.