Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Notes on the Detailed Data, DFIPS, 2015-2021

Released March 2025

Sources

The Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS) produces national estimates of the number and value of noncash payments via the Depository and Financial Institutions Payments Survey (DFIPS) and the Networks, Processors, and Issuers Payments Surveys (NPIPS), and is supplemented by other information collected by the Federal Reserve. The information presented in the detailed tables of this release includes national estimates for 2015, 2018, and 2021 based on survey data collected in the DFIPS.

For 2021, surveys were sent to a nationally representative, stratified random sample of 3,800 depository institutions (DIs), comprising commercial banks, savings institutions, and credit unions. 1,215 DIs responded to the survey. For 2022, DFIPS surveys were sent to a sample of 115 of the largest institutions by deposit size, 75 of which responded to the survey.

Other information used to augment the survey data is from internal Federal Reserve information and in the public domain.

The FRPS webpage contains further information on the study, including the reports, survey instruments, and glossaries.

Important Data Considerations

• Estimates are restated and supersede previously published estimates. They are based on an improved estimation methodology described below and include new information.
• As in past releases of DFIPS data, estimates for the full population of DIs are the sum of separate ratio estimates constructed for each year and for each DI size and type stratum using information reported to federal depository institution regulators.
• Repeated observations, especially from annual supplementary surveys of the largest DIs, allowed the construction of an eight-year panel of survey data for 2015-2022. For a set of the largest commercial banks, savings institutions, and credit unions, this panel covers every year. Nationally representative data, including data from smaller DIs, were collected only in 2015, 2018, and 2021.
• The survey is voluntary, resulting in varying participation and item response patterns from year to year. For consistency and to ensure related variables add up, the study methodology imputes missing data. Imputations for this release are the first to employ a panel-based methodology. This new methodology uses data correlations across time as well as between DIs in the same year, providing added cross-year consistency and improved general precision of imputed data, particularly for the largest DIs, which are surveyed annually. The new methodology improves consistency and precision of the estimates.
• Estimates for automated clearinghouse (ACH) transfers include those based on operator data and those estimated directly from the DFIPS survey data.

Data Tables

General Information

Scope	Unless otherwise specified, FRPS volumes (number and value) include all noncash payments from accounts domiciled in the United States, including cross-border payments from those accounts.  Volumes are defined to include all payments made by consumers and non-consumers. Non-consumer payments are labeled business payments and include for-profit and non-profit enterprises and federal, state, and local government agencies. In some cases, such as in the Checks section, federal government payments are measured separately.
Time period	DFIPS data reported in this release contains calendar-year estimates for 2015, 2018, and 2021.
Metrics	Number of accounts, value of account balances, average value of account balances   Number of payments, value of payments, average value of payments  Rates of change, calculated as compound annual growth rates (CAGRs)

Table 1. Accounts, 2015-21 

Description	Transaction deposit accounts and sweep program accounts.
Contents	Transaction deposit accounts   Sweep program accounts
Allocations	Transaction deposit accounts   Type of accountholder: consumer and business  Retail sweep program accounts Type of accountholder: consumer and business  Wholesale sweep program accounts
Notes	Estimates of transaction deposit accounts do not include general-purpose prepaid card program accounts. Sweep accounts are accounts used to automatically move funds between transaction accounts and interest-bearing accounts following predetermined rules.
Sources	DFIPS

Table 2. Checks, 2015-21

Description	Checks paid, checks written, and checks deposited.
Contents	Checks paid  Checks written Checks deposited
Allocations	Checks paid   Check type: U.S. treasury checks, postal money orders, and commercial checks  Clearing method: interbank and on-us  Commercial checks paid  Payer type: consumer and business Clearing method: interbank and on-us  Interbank clearing method: inclearings and on-us correspondent Checks written   Checks converted to ACH payments Commercial deposited  Depositor type: consumer and business, correspondent  Consumer and business deposit method: image and other
Notes	The survey estimates total checks by collecting volumes of checks DIs pay on behalf of their nonbank customers. The approach avoids the potential for double counting by banks that serve as intermediaries, known as correspondent banks, in the check clearing process.   Commercial checks include checks paid by both consumers and businesses. Commercial checks do not include those paid by the U.S. Treasury or postal money orders.  Checks written is the sum of all checks paid plus checks that were created by the payer but converted to an ACH transfer. Checks that are converted are no longer usable for a check payment, but they become a record of payment origin, called the “source document” for the ACH transfer.  Because of correspondent banking arrangements and because deposits from all sources, including other DIs, are included, estimated totals of checks deposited include some checks that would be reported by more than one bank. Correspondent check deposits account for a portion of the checks that are counted more than once and are estimated for 2015 and 2021. Because a check may pass through more than one correspondent bank, however, the estimates of correspondent volumes, themselves, may not account for all the times a deposited check would be counted by more than one bank.
Sources	DFIPS, Federal Reserve Banks

Table 3. Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) Transfers, 2015-21

Description	ACH credit and debit transfers
Contents	ACH transfers (aligned with operator data)  Commercial ACH transfers (DFIPS)
Allocations	ACH transfers (aligned with operator data)  Clearing method: network and in-house on-us  Transfer type: credit and debit  Commercial ACH transfers (DFIPS)  Transfer type: credit and debit  Credit transfers  Clearing method: network and in-house on-us  Payer type: consumer and business  Settlement timing: same-day and non-same-day  Debit transfers  Clearing method: network and in-house on-us  Payer type: consumer and business  Settlement timing: same-day and non-same-day
Notes	Two groups of ACH estimates are reported:  Aligned with operator data: Estimates from DFIPS are combined with data from ACH network operators to align DFIPS estimates more closely with operator data. The purpose is to provide a consistent time series and, as discussed below, to try to net out the effect of internal processing practices that tend to inflate internal ACH value reflected in the commercial ACH estimates from DFIPS data.  DFIPS: Commercial ACH estimates made directly from DFIPS data.  Details on estimates aligned with operator data   Data on network transfers provided by ACH operators are reported, and information from DFIPS estimates is used to produce aligned in-house on-us and total volumes. As a result, amounts for this set of figures differ from commercial ACH transfers (DFIPS).   Alignment involved 1) setting the numbers of network transfers equal to the numbers reported by the network operators, using the estimated ratios of total to network by number as a multiplier to obtain the aligned total and in-house on-us estimates, and 2) assuming equivalence between commercial network (non-U.S. Treasury) and in-house on-us average values, which may net out the effect of internal practices that tend to inflate the value of ACH transfers without inflating the number. Alignment was performed separately for ACH credits and debits. U.S. Treasury ACH volumes were then added to reported aligned figures as appropriate (not shown).  The aligned and directly estimated commercial network volumes (number and value), total numbers, and in-house on-us numbers are roughly similar to each other. The aligned total and in-house on-us ACH value estimates are substantially lower than the directly estimated commercial network ACH values, explained in more detail below.  The aligned ACH estimates are used in the trend charts for a consistent time series.   Commercial ACH includes payments made on behalf of consumer, business, and government customers of DIs surveyed in DFIPS. U.S. Treasury ACH credit payments are not included in the DFIPS estimates because they are processed and reported by the Federal Reserve Banks, the federal government's fiscal agent. DFIPS estimates, however, are defined to and may include any ACH credit transfers sent by DIs’ commercial customers to the U.S. Treasury, as well as U.S. Treasury ACH debit transfers received and therefore funded by their commercial customers.  The DFIPS asks respondents to allocate ACH transfers between on-us transfers that are processed in house only (called in-house on-us ACH transfers) and those that are sent to an operator (called network ACH transfers). Network ACH transfers may include some on-us ACH transfers, i.e., payments that are sent to an ACH operator and then sent back to the same institution for payment.   DIs reported high average values of in-house on-us compared with network average values, reflected in the Commercial ACH Transfers (DFIPS) value estimates. The estimated internal transfer values and average values are higher, in part, because DIs’ internal processes sometimes involve offsetting and consolidation practices that tend to replicate and thereby inflate the value of internal transfers but not the number of transfers. As discussed in previously published reports, for example, offset entries are used internally by some depository institutions to bundle several ACH payments, such as a collection of consumer bill payments to a single payee, into one ACH payment. Processing the bundled ACH payments along with an offset entry like this increases the number of payments in the bundle by one while replicating or doubling the amount of value.  A negligible number of ACH payments are cleared and settled bilaterally between two depository institutions through a process called direct exchange. Direct exchange transfers are included in the DFIPS commercial network estimates.
Sources	DFIPS, ACH operator data

Table 4. Wire Transfers, 2015-21

Description	Wire transfers originated or received over large-value funds transfer systems and internal book-entry systems.
Contents	Wire transfers originated  Wire transfers received
Allocations	Wire transfers originated  Payer type: consumer and business  Business type: settlement/bank business and other  Payee location: domestic and cross-border  Clearing method: interbank and book transfer
Notes	Wire transfers originated includes those sent by DIs, and do not include wire transfers originated by the U.S. Treasury via the Federal Reserve Banks, the federal government’s fiscal agent.  Wire transfers received includes those received by DIs, which can include wire transfers from the U.S. Treasury.  A substantial portion of wire transfers are cross-border. This fact, along with the absence of U.S. Treasury volume from the estimated wires originated, contribute to differences in the national volumes of wire transfers originated and wire transfers received.
Sources	DFIPS

Table 5. Alternative Payments via DI Website or App, 2015-21

Description	Alternative payments via DI website or app
Contents	Bill payment transactions  Person-to-person (P2P) transfers
Allocations	P2P transfers  Funds availability to the recipient: immediate and other
Notes	Alternative payments include bill payment and P2P transactions initiated via a DI website or app. These initiation methods provide a convenient interface for users. The initiated transactions do not represent unique payments as they generally require settlement through other payment types, typically via the ACH system or a general-purpose card network.  Immediate payments were defined in DFIPS as those with funds made available to the recipient in 30 minutes or less. (Settlement speed can be different from funds availability.)
Sources	DFIPS

Contact

For questions or comments, or to be added to the FRPS mailing list, please contact: frpaymentsstudy@frb.gov.