The news
U.S. B2B payments have moved decisively from checks to ACH, but nearly 90% of businesses still write checks and remittance data often travel separately from payments, according to research the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City published on September 18 and 25, 2026.
The first briefing, by Kansas City Fed researchers including Fumiko Hayashi, found that ACH payments between businesses more than doubled from 3.6 billion in 2015 to 8.7 billion in 2024, lifting ACH's share of B2B payments by count from 25% to 41%. Checks fell from 4.6 billion to 2.7 billion, and from 32% to 13% of transactions. By value, wires dominate at about $1 quadrillion, or 92% of the total, while ACH nearly doubled to $70 trillion and checks held flat at $15 trillion.
Checks are fading slowly rather than disappearing. Citing Association for Financial Professionals surveys, the Fed said the share of organizations using checks slipped only from 91% in 2024 to 87% in 2025. The average B2B check in 2024 was $5,577, compared with $8,084 for ACH and $3.2 million for a wire.
The second briefing, published September 25, explains why automation stalls. Invoices arrive by mail, email, electronic data interchange and a growing number of supplier portals, which the authors say creates portal fatigue. Payment messages use different standards: ISO 20022 for wires and instant payments, ISO 8583 for cards and an older format for ACH. Many accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are still built around checks, and remittance details often arrive separately from the money, forcing staff to match them by hand. The authors said AI and optical character recognition help but still need human review.
Software vendors are targeting that gap. On September 22, spend management company Ramp launched accounts receivable tools that draft invoices from contracts and purchase orders, prepare AI-assisted collections follow-ups, match incoming payments to open invoices and generate revenue recognition schedules. Payments Dive reported the product is initially available to U.S. single-entity businesses using QuickBooks Online or NetSuite.
The numbers
- B2B ACH payments, 2015 to 2024
- 3.6 billion to 8.7 billion
- ACH share of B2B payments by count, 2024
- 41%
- Check share of B2B payments by count, 2024
- 13%
- Organizations using checks, 2025 (AFP via Kansas City Fed)
- 87%
- Average B2B check, 2024
- $5,577
- Wire share of B2B payment value, 2024
- 92%
Why CEOs should care
For CFOs, the lesson is that payment speed is no longer the main bottleneck; data is. Measure how many incoming and outgoing payments post to your ledger without a person touching them, and track that rate by payment method and by top counterparties. Then set a target to move the remaining check payees to ACH with structured remittance data, starting with the vendors you pay most often.
Treasurers and controllers should push for remittance data that travels with the money. Ask your banks what ISO 20022 remittance fields they can pass through to your ERP, whether they can deliver ACH addenda in a usable format, and how they handle payments from customers who still mail checks. Where suppliers insist on their own portals, count the portals your team logs into each month and negotiate for e-invoicing or a shared network instead.
For buyers of accounts receivable automation, the questions are practical. Confirm which ERPs and entity structures a product supports, since Ramp's initial release is limited to single-entity QuickBooks Online and NetSuite users. Ask how AI-drafted collection emails are reviewed before they go to customers, what match rate the tool achieves on your own remittance data, and what audit trail it keeps. CISOs should note that every new invoice channel is also a fraud channel, so require callback or bank-verified checks on any change to payment instructions.
The bigger picture
The research reframes B2B payments modernization as an interoperability problem across invoices, payment formats and accounting systems. That opens room for software firms to sell end-to-end workflows rather than payment rails. Ramp said more than 70,000 businesses use its platform and cited JPMorgan Chase Institute research putting the median small business's cash buffer at 27 days, which is why collecting faster matters as much as paying efficiently.
What’s next
The Kansas City Fed said a third briefing will examine whether instant payments can solve the remaining straight-through processing problems. Watch for Ramp and rivals to add more ERP integrations and multi-entity support, and for banks to expand ISO 20022 remittance services as corporate clients ask for them.
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