NACHA Issues 2005 "NACHA Top 50" Lists of Originating and Receiving ACH Financial Institutions

San Diego, California, May 8, 2008 - NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association released today at its PAYMENTS 2006 conference the NACHA Top 50 lists of the largest originating and receiving financial institutions of automated clearing house (ACH) payments for 2005.

"Inter-bank ACH payments grew by 18.9 percent in 2005, which combined with last year's performance has resulted in a stunning 47 percent growth in just two years," said Elliott C. McEntee, President and Chief Executive Officer of NACHA. "Much of the growth in 2005 is once again attributable to the Accounts Receivable (ARC) and Internet (WEB) bill payment applications. Financial institutions use these applications to provide their business customers with the collection of consumer remittances, and to service their own portfolios of consumer credit card, mortgage and loan payments."

The financial institutions in the NACHA Top 50 of originating institutions accounted for 93.1 percent of all inter-bank ACH payments in 2005, up from 91.6 percent in 2004. The Top 5 institutions accounted for 58.1 percent of all ACH origination activity; the Top 10 accounted for 73.2 percent. Both of these figures are increases of about 2 percentage points over 2004.

On the receiving side, the financial institutions in the NACHA Top 50 accounted for 52.8 percent of all inter-bank ACH payments in 2005. The Top 5 institutions accounted for 25.8 percent, and the Top 10 accounted for 34.2 percent.

In the Top 50 data, NACHA includes all ACH-formatted transactions that financial institutions sent to or received from an ACH Operator – an electronic clearing house among banks – or directly to or from another financial institution. ACH-formatted transactions remaining within a single institution – known as "on-us" payments – are excluded from the Top 50 results.

ACH payments include Direct Deposit of payroll and benefits, Direct Payment of consumer bills, e-checks, business-to-business payments and Federal tax withholdings. In 2005 there were nearly 14 billion ACH payments worth $31 trillion.

The Top 50 List is available to ALACHA members

• Top 50 Originators
• Top 50 Receivers

About NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association
NACHA is the leading organization in developing electronic solutions to improve the payments system. NACHA represents more than 11,000 financial institutions through direct memberships and a network of regional payments associations, and 650 organizations through its industry councils. NACHA develops operating rules and business practices for the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network and for electronic payments in the areas of Internet commerce, electronic bill and invoice presentment and payment (EBPP, EIPP), e-checks, financial electronic data interchange (EDI), international payments, and electronic benefits transfer (EBT). Visit NACHA on the Internet at www.nacha.org.