ACH growth rate surpasses that of the Federal Reserve

The Clearing House saw a significant increase in ACH payments volume last year, climbing 7.9% to 19.44 billion payments, with the value reaching .4 trillion. This growth outpaced the 4.8% increase reported by Nacha, showing that TCH’s volume was growing at a faster rate than the Federal Reserve’s ACH volume as well.

According to TCH Senior Vice President Jason Carone, the demand for easier and faster electronic payments from businesses and consumers is the driving force behind the increase in ACH payments, along with instant payments. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

Nacha manages the ACH Network, while The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve serve as ACH operators for payments processing. Nacha reported an overall 2023 volume of 31.5 billion payments valued at .1 trillion.

The Clearing House, owned by a group of major U.S. banks, reported a 2022 payments volume of 18.02 billion payments valued at .1 trillion. A significant portion of TCH’s electronic payments network flow was for businesses, with EPN carrying approximately half of the 2023 U.S. ACH commercial volume.

The competition between The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve intensified last year with the launch of the Federal Reserve’s real-time payments system, FedNow. Despite this rivalry, FedNow prompted more activity on TCH’s real-time payments network. The Clearing House reported a 44% increase in real-time payments processing for last year, with volume and value of payments rising significantly.

The Clearing House currently has 565 banks signed up for its RTP system, while the Federal Reserve announced that it had 607 banks participating in FedNow.