BACS Limited, the UK's Automated Clearing House (ACH), today announced that it has processed the 50 billionth transaction since the company was formed in 1968.
This landmark figure has been accomplished due to the popularity of Direct Debit and Direct Credit in the UK, which, last year - along with standing orders - totalled four billion transactions. At present, BACS processes an average of 16 million transactions every day compared to 9.7 million in its entire first year of operation. The total annual value of payments processed has leapt from £95 million in 1968 to nearly £2.6 trillion in 2003.
BACS growth has also outstripped other international ACH's, for example, it has processed nearly three times as many payments as its Italian counterpart and around three times more payments per capita than the USA. Payment growth experienced by BACS last year amounted to the same as the total combined volume processed by the new EU accession countries, making it the largest growth anywhere in Europe.
BACS Limited processes Direct Debits and Direct Credits on behalf of BACS Payment Schemes Limited. Mike Chambers of BACS Payment Schemes Limited, said; "We have seen a rapid growth in the use of Direct Debit, Direct Credit and standing orders to pay bills, benefits and salaries. This will continue and our current forecasts predict that over five billion payments will be made using our products in 2007 alone."
The milestone comes as BACS Limited, the infrastructure company, enters a phase in its development that will see it expand current clearing functionality and move into new geographical markets by leveraging its new IP platform. This includes the current migration of all UK customers onto the new IP based payments infrastructure, BACSTEL-IP, which provides one of the most secure, reliable, scaleable and innovative delivery channels in the world.
"BACS Limited has a tremendous opportunity ahead of it, last year saw the largest increase in volumes since we began processing 36 years ago." adds Chief Executive Marion King, "Our technology renewal programme gives us future capability and scalability with a secure platform for domestic and international volume growth. The payments market is at a significant point in the evolution of cross-border transactions, especially within Europe, which makes our volume capability more important than ever before."