Same Day and B2B ACH Shrug Off Real-Time Rally and Deliver Strong First Half

Despite the availability of two U.S. real-time rails in 2024 – RTP® from The Clearing House and FedNow® from the U.S. Federal Reserve – demand for ACH business payments is undiminished and, in fact, is stronger than ever, with B2B making notable gains in Q2. 

ACH Growth 

Nacha, the independent organization that operates the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network, reported in late July that Same Day ACH payments showed “significant volume and value increases in the second quarter of 2024.” 

The organization said that 8.3 billion ACH payments were made in Q2 2024, rising 6.3% over the same period last year. “The dollar value of these ACH payments totaled $21.6 trillion, a 7% increase,” per Nacha’s statement.  

Importantly for business payments, Nacha added that “Growth in ACH business-to-business (B2B) payments also continued, with 1.8 billion payments in the second quarter, an increase of 10.9% from 2023.” 

ACH B2B volume did more than grow double-digits in the second quarter. 

Victoria Day, Chief Communications Officer at Nacha, told Bottomline that “Same Day ACH B2B payments volume grew 24%, and the value of those payments increased 33.5%. This growth showcases the number of [ACH] use cases, including tax payments, insurance claims, merchant settlement and cash concentration.” 

Instant Payments Adoption 

By comparison, the RTP® network reported that on June 28, 2024, “consumers and businesses sent over $1 billion in instant payments” setting a single-day RTP® record. The second quarter overall was also a record-setter for RTP® at $55 billion in transactions. 

Over at FedNow, banks, FIs, and corporates continue activating, although the network itself is still settling as more banks sign on to both send and receive funds. Using the RTP® numbers as a reference point, real-time demand is there, though it’s a fraction of ACH’s $21.6 trillion in Q2. ACH has been in-market longer, but that doesn’t seem to be its primary advantage. Irrevocable instant B2B payments have yet to ignite as a value proposition.  

As Forbes recently reported, FedNow represents “...an incremental improvement on payment infrastructure, not a paradigm shift.” 

ACH is Meeting New Market Needs 

This strong performance in Q2 2024 builds on Same Day ACH’s volume win in Q1 when Nacha said Same Day ACH payments “exceeded 100 million payments in a month for the first time in April 2024,” pushing up to nearly 108 million payments. 

The more recent news added that “there were a total of 292.3 million Same Day ACH payments, up 46.6% from a year earlier. Same Day ACH payment values rose 31.1% to $803.3 billion for the second quarter.” 

Asked how ACH is not just holding its ground but expanding it – even with a pair of real-time competitors looking to capture some of the same-day action via instant payments – Nacha’s Victoria Day told Bottomline that “instant payments and ACH, including Same Day ACH, will together meet the evolving needs of the marketplace.” 

At the Nacha Smarter Faster Payments Conference 2024 in May, Bottomline’s VP of Product Management and Strategic Solutions, Jessica Cheney, hosted a panel discussion outlining the growing role of ACH in optimizing working capital, and the importance of investing in treasury services and capabilities to strengthen a core payments network. 

Panelist Christine Barry of Datos Insights noted during the session that treasury services pair well with ACH payments, suggesting that integrated payments platforms that do more than move money are needed to give banks and businesses relevant solutions. 

Olivia Maciel from Regions Bank, also a speaker on Cheney’s panel, noted the strategic importance of ACH in working capital management, as well as pushing for a break with legacy bank offerings solutions, particularly paper checks. 

Nacha’s perspective is similar. Victoria Day told Bottomline that “businesses continue to migrate away from paper checks to ACH, both next day and Same Day, for certain use cases, because ACH payments uniquely reach virtually every bank and credit union account in the United States and can be processed as both debit and credit payments.” 

Add to that ACH’s most popular use cases like scheduled and recurring B2B payments on known due dates such as bill payments and account transfers, in addition to payroll and benefit Direct Deposits, and Day said the industry “will continue to be served well by ACH.”