ARC Fuels 23.6% Commercial ACH Growth

The number of Accounts Receivable (ARC) e-check payments exceeded 208 million in the 2nd quarter 2004, an increase of 791 percent over a year ago, fueling a 23.6 percent rise in financial institutions Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network volume.For the first time, ARC volume exceeded that of Internet-initiated consumer ACH debits (WEB), making it the largest ACH e-check application. The dollar value of the ARC payments was $60.8 billion. ACH payments totaled 2.23 billion in the 2nd quarter. Financial institutions originated 1.99 billion ACH payments, a 23.6 increase over a year ago. The remainder are ACH payments originated by the Federal government. The five ACH e-check applications combined for 472.5 million payments in the 2nd quarter, an increase of 120.5 percent over a year ago. In order of volume they are: 1) ARC - 208.8 million; 2) WEB - 170.1 million; 3) TEL (consumer telephone-initiated debits) - 45.7 million; 4) POP (point-of-purchase check conversion) - 41.7 million; 5) RCK (re-presented check) - 5.8 million. Figures cited in this release do not include estimates of on-us ACH payments, in which the originating and receiving financial institutions are the same institution.