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Automated clearinghouse transaction volume during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 reached 3.8 billion, up 4.4% compared with 3.64 billion for the same period a year earlier, according to NACHA, the Herndon, Va.-based electronic payments association that manages the U.S. ACH network. The total value of ACH transactions for the fourth quarter was $7.3 trillion. NACHA did not supply comparative ACH transaction-value data for the same period in 2007. Web-initiated ACH payments, popular with consumers for recurring or single-entry bill payments, rose 16.5% during the quarter, to 552.1 million compared with 474.1 million a year earlier. The total value of the quarter's Web-initiated transactions was $220 billion. Business-to-business ACH transaction volume rose 15.2%, to 14.4 million from 12.5 million. The total value of those payments during the quarter was $691 billion. Back-office conversion payments, in which batches of checks are converted from paper to ACH debit payments at a centralized location, soared to 39.4 million transactions from 3.1 million during the same period a year earlier. "The continued growth of ACH transactions during a period of intense economic pressures speaks to the fundamental value that financial institutions, business, governments and consumers recognize in the ACH network," Janet O. Estep, NACHA president and CEO, said in a statement.
