Following four consecutive quarters surpassing five billion electronic payments each, overall ACH network volume in 2016 reached 25.6 billion transactions and $43.7 trillion transferred, according to NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association.

This represents an increase of 5.3% over 2015 volume for the Herndon, Va. association and is the third consecutive year in which volume grew by a billion transactions or more over the previous year. Transfer volume over the ACH Network increased 5.1% compared to 2015.

"2016 marked a significant year for the continued evolution and growth of the ACH Network," Janet O. Estep, president and CEO of NACHA, said. "With the implementation of Same Day ACH, we have added to the robust capabilities of the network, now enabling not only next-day payment capabilities, but same-day capabilities as well. The added attribute of speed provides additional flexibility and options to a system that has the capacity to process credit and debit transactions, payments and robust information together, domestic and international transactions, business and consumer payments, and more."