ACH payments rose as card payments made a surprising drop, and consumers tried out new payment types.

ACH payments’ B2B transaction value will near parity with checks and cash in 2022, per our forecast. Their lower transaction costs encourage SMBs to digitize payments, which in turn makes automating simpler and more accessible: Bill.com touts its flat-rate transaction pricing for ACH payments, charging $0.49 per payment versus $1.69 per check.

And growth rates for the ACH network, which processes the bulk of these payments, accelerated in 2020 and 2021 despite the pandemic, per major US ACH provider NACHA. Key Trends We’re Watching. Rising Bank-to-Bank Payment Usage in Other Segments Will Open the Door to Retail.

Automated Clearing House (ACH) networks are electronic funds transfer systems that route transactions between payers and payees through the National ACH Association in the US. They often reach sectors that card networks can’t access, including B2B, bill pay, and other high-value transaction categories.

But digitization can create revenue challenges—ACH payments are not particularly lucrative, for example—that will drive more providers toward digital offerings as they seek out volume growth in ways that offset costs. Small Businesses Will Drive Digital B2B Growth.

ACH: Poised to Outperform. As businesses gradually abandon checks, ACH has become the most popular alternative, almost reaching parity in 2022, per our forecast. ACH payments currently have the second largest share of the space. Since 2018, ACH has experienced double-digit growth, and we expect this will continue in 2021, growing 10.4% to $11.049 trillion. What’s Shaping the Growth of ACH?

The Colorado-based startup’s app lets customers at more than 800 cannabis dispensaries make Automated Clearing House Payments (ACH) payments by scanning a QR code at checkout. Partner merchants are required to bank with CanPay-approved financial institutions (FI) that are compliant with federal guidelines. SuperNet.

Tink’s partnership should be well received by PostNord Strålfors’s clients if demand for digital B2B payments in the Nordics mirrors US trends—Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments will soon overtake historic leaders checks and cash to have the largest market share of B2B payments, per our forecasts. Visa closed a deal last week to acquire Tink for $2 billion, per a press release.

Discover may be using the integration to improve its positioning as a payment provider: Increased use of the ACH network, which typically powers A2A transactions, for B2B payments and healthcare transactions is set to open a pathway to use it for retail payments. ACH volume grew 8.7% year over year in 2021.

Same Day ACH. Though ACH payments are a popular digital payment method for B2B payments, direct deposits, bills, and more, they’re one of the key money transfer systems faster payments are trying to speed up—and Same Day ACH is NACHA’s response to that. NACHA governs US ACH payments that go through both the Fed and TCH.

Right now, banking as a service essentially is card processing, a debit or credit card, checking accounts, ACH processing your wires—but that's it. Now, we have a pilot program called BancFi, which is the credit and lending component for banking as a service. We just launched that toward the end of last year, and we're only selectively offering it to existing fintech clients.

Related content: Check out “The Rise of Real-Time Payments” report to learn about how faster payment systems like the ACH Network are disrupting payment processes in the US.

Automated Clearing House (ACH) Transactions. ACH transactions, which route payments between banks, are vastly popular, in part because they’re a relatively low-cost payment option.

Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments are the second most popular B2B payment option with a share of 39.2% in 2020, reaching above $10 trillion for the first time. Card payments took a hit in 2020 with a decline of approximately 5%, which lead to a payment value of $1.434 trillion. We expect this payment type will rebound in 2021 and end up taking a 6.0% share of overall B2B payments.

This could give the ACH network a boost in payment volume: In 2020, the ACH network processed $61.9 trillion in payments, representing an 8.2% year-over-year (YoY) increase in volume, which likely came on the back of stimulus distribution. The ACH network will also power distribution by P2P providers, some of which are stepping in to help customers receive their payments.