Bacs Payment Schemes processed more than 6.34 billion payments in 2017, worth a total of almost £5 trillion – marking another record-breaking year for the firm.

On one day in June 2017, 111.7 million Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits passed through the system – the equivalent of more than 7.2 million payments each hour the processing window was open, or in excess of 120,000 transactions per minute. That figure surpasses the previous daily high of 109.3 million transactions recorded in September 2016.

Direct Debit volumes grew by 3.8 per cent over the course of the year to more than 4.2 billion, totalling over £1.3 trillion. Bacs Direct Credit also saw values increase to £3.6 trillion, up three per cent on 2016.

Michael Chambers, chief executive officer of Bacs, said: “At a time of unprecedented change across the sector, this continued and impressive growth once again underlines just how important our payment products are to consumers and businesses alike throughout the UK.

“Not only did we process more payments than we ever have in a calendar year in 2017, we also broke our daily record once again, handling more than 120,000 payments per minute at our busiest time.

“As we continue to play a key role in the evolution of the sector, we remain focused on ensuring that our products remain the payment method of choice for all those who rely on them each and every day.”

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