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The top 50 originating financial institutions on the automated clearing house network hit nearly 27.7 billion in payments in 2023, a 5.7% increase over 2022, Nacha says. Volume for the top 50 receiving FIs was almost 20 billion payments in 2023, a 6.4% increase from 2022.
Herndon, Va.-based Nacha says the top 50 originators accounted for 93.1% of the ACH network’s total commerce payments volume last year. The top 50 receiving FIs accounted for 63.3% of all ACH network volume, which includes payments received from the federal government.
The number one originating bank in 2023 was Wells Fargo & Co., which had a total of 8.1 billion debits and credits, a 2.6% increase from its 2022 volume of 7.9 billion, Nacha says. It was the top originator in 2022. The other top five originators were JPMorgan Chase & Co., at 6 billion, Bank of America Corp., 3.3 billion, Citigroup Inc., 1.4 billion, and Capital One Financial Corp., 1.1 billion. The 2023 ranking is the same as in 2022.
Leading receiving banks and credit unions was BofA at 3.5 billion credit and debit volume. Rounding out the top five, all in the same ranking as in 2022, are JPMorgan, 3.2 billion, Wells Fargo, 2.6 billion, PNC Financial Services Group, 1.1 billion, and U.S. Bancorp, 910 million.
It’s not surprising that ACH use is growing. In recent years, Nacha has added same-day ACH processing and more processing windows, and has refined the use cases for ACH payments. Earlier this week, it released new rules to help curb credit-push fraud.
“The modern ACH Network has been continually advancing since its inception, adding new capabilities and transaction types, improving processing speeds, and expanding operating hours,” Michael Herd, Nacha executive vice president of ACH Network Administration, tells Digital Transactions News via email.
“From healthcare claim reimbursements to business-to-business payments (which grew 7.6% and 10/8% respectively), there are growing cases of payments moving away from paper checks and to ACH,” Herd says. “Same-day ACH has been a driver of overall ACH volume growth. With a $1-million-per-payment limit, more businesses from a wide spectrum of industries, government entities, and consumers are able to utilize and benefit from the ACH Network.”
In 2023, same-day ACH volume totaled 853.4 million payments valued at $2.4 trillion, a 22.3% increase in volume and a 41.2% increase in value from 2022. “Since its inception in September 2016, same-day ACH volume has surpassed 3 billion payments and $6 trillion,” Herd says.
The outlook for continued ACH payment growth is healthy. In addition to domestic ACH activity, Nacha plans to issue a set of proposed rules for international ACH transactions, Herd says. They’ll be in line with the networks’ expectations of the user experience, help increase awareness and understanding of ACH capabilities, help reduce friction in ACH payments, and improve data flows, he says. The top 50 data also includes the portion of international ACH transactions that occur on the U.S. ACH network, he adds.
