Take On Payments

Business payments are concentrated in wires, ACH credit transactions, and (still) checks, according to 2021 data released by the Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS) last month. Of these payment types, wires grew most by both number and value from 2018.

In 2021, most wire payments were made by businesses, 89 percent of all wires by number and almost 100 percent by value. Payments made by businesses using wires grew by double digits from 2018 to 2021. By number, business wires increased 11.9 percent per year to 345.8 million payments. By value, business wires were up 10.9 percent to $1,436.83 trillion.

Most ACH credit transfers were made by businesses in 2021, 95 percent of ACH credits by number and 97 percent by value. Business ACH credits increased at a slower rate than wire transfers over the three-year period, 8.5 percent per year by number and 8.3 percent by value.

Perhaps surprisingly, most check payments were made by businesses in 2021, 52 percent by number and 76 percent by value. This is the first year for which the FRPS found that the number of business checks exceeded the number of consumer checks. In addition, check use by value increased from 2018 to 2021; the total value of business checks increased by 2.7 percent per year to $20.64 trillion.

ACH business debits, while only one in five ACH debit transfers, made up 70 percent of these transfers by value. The number of these transfers declined from 2018 to 2021; the value increased 6.5 percent per year.

Average values for business and consumer payments differ as you might expect, with values of business payments dwarfing those for consumer payments. The average value of a business wire is more than 40 times the value of a consumer wire. Even the average business check is three times the value of a consumer check. For more data, visit the Federal Reserve Payments Study website.

By Claire Greene, center director, Atlanta Fed Payments Forum