CHICAGO — Financial institutions pushed automated clearinghouse payments up two billion to nearly 16 billion in 2006, according to statistics compiled by NACHA–The Electronic Payments Association–and released at the PAYMENTS 2007 conference last week.

Two credit unions made the top 50 receiving depository financial institutions list while one credit union related organization made the list of the top 50 originating depository financial institutions. Among RDFIs, Navy Federal was No. 21 with 46 million debits and 33 million credits, up 12.3% over 2005. SECU in North Carolina placed 37th with 23 million debits and 12 million credits, up 10.7%. The No. 1 RDFI was Bank of America with 1.2 billion transactions, up 25.8% and No. 2 was Wells Fargo with 600 million transactions, up 13.3%.

Rounding out the ODFI top 50 list, CU Bank Shares, owner of credit union credit/debit card processor TNB, is in danger of slipping off the list at 15.4 million transactions, down 18.4%. No. 1 was JP Morgan Chase at 3.1 billion transactions, up 15.1%, and No. 2 was Bank of America at 1.2 billion transactions, up 32.6%.

In total, 2006 ACHs represented a 14.5% increase over the previous year. Originations were up 15.4% among financial institutions, while inter-bank ACH payments were up 16.5% and payments that remain within a single financial institution were up 12.2%. Payments originated by the federal government were over one billion for the first time last year, up 2.8% and valued at $3.5 trillion.

“Annual ACH payment volume continues to double every 5 years, and growth is occurring across all transaction categories,” NACHA President/CEO Elliott C. McEntee commented. “The growth of the ACH Network shows the value that financial institutions and their customers experience from ACH payments.”

Direct deposit is the most commonly used type of ACH payment and experienced a 5.5% increase to 4.7 billion payments in 2006.