The Automated Clearing House (ACH) is a standardized computer-network that facilitates the transfer of funds between tens of thousands of participating financial institutions. It consists of direct deposits and direct payments between businesses, governments, and consumers. The ACH system was designed to process payments in batches to reduce fees—which according to an article by Payments (“How Long Does an ACH Transfer Take?”) resulted in more than $55 trillion in transactions in 2019.