ACH Gains Ground in B2B Payments, Leaving Checks Behind

# ACH Gains Ground in B2B Payments, Leaving Checks Behind

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent PaymentsJournal analysis citing Cleveland Federal Reserve B2B payment data
> Source: [PaymentsJournal](https://www.paymentsjournal.com/ach-gains-ground-in-b2b-payments-leaving-checks-behind/)
> Published: 2026-09-22
> Captured: 2026-09-23T01:39:55.965Z

## Source summary

PaymentsJournal’s analysis of Cleveland Fed data says U.S. B2B ACH payments rose from 3.6 billion in 2015 to 8.7 billion in 2024, while check payments fell from 4.6 billion to 2.7 billion. It reports ACH became the most-used B2B payment method in 2020 and checks’ share dropped from 32% to 13%. These are U.S. payment counts, not cross-border volumes or revenue.

## Why it matters

The data provide a domestic benchmark for how businesses trade paper checks for electronic rails and how speed, automation and risk influence method choice. It is not a cross-border adoption study, and the article does not establish that the same mix or economics apply internationally.

## Key numbers

- **U.S. B2B ACH payments, 2015 to 2024:** 3.6 billion to 8.7 billion
- **U.S. B2B check payments, 2015 to 2024:** 4.6 billion to 2.7 billion
- **Check share of U.S. B2B payment count:** 32% in 2015; 13% in 2024

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Payment infrastructure
- Entities: U.S. B2B payments / ACH / checks
- Payment infrastructure
- Cross-border payments

## Evidence and credibility note

Independent PaymentsJournal analyst coverage citing the Cleveland Federal Reserve; figures describe U.S. domestic B2B payment counts, not international flows, dollar value or current 2026 run rate.

Date evidence: Automatically verified from article:published_time: 2026-09-22T12:50:48-04:00

## First-party corroboration

No directly corresponding A1 company announcement is currently linked.

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original PaymentsJournal report](https://www.paymentsjournal.com/ach-gains-ground-in-b2b-payments-leaving-checks-behind/)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.