Bacs
Bacs trusted partner for four decades
UK banks and building societies set up Bacs as an independent
not-for-profit body to coordinate clearing and settlement of
automated payments.
Our role as the key technology provider for Bacs has placed us
at the heart of the payments industry for over 40 years.
Initially we were part of Bacs itself; in recent years we've
collaborated as its partner organisation.
As such, we developed, own and operate the infrastructure that
processes all automated Bacs payments.
Tens of millions of consumers and thousands of organisations use
Bacs schemes to simplify payments and manage cashflow more
efficiently. Our Bacs platform handles over 5.6 billion payments
every year. On peak days more than 90 million transactions pass
through VocaLink data centres.
The UK led the development of Direct Debits and Bacs Direct
Credits, with over 100,000 service user numbers now in place. Bacs
is chiefly responsible for two payment products:
- Bacs Direct Credits are payer-initiated interbank transfers. We
handle over 2 billion of these every year, including over 90% of
all UK salaries and 98% of state benefits
- Direct Debits are transfers initiated by authorised payees.
Three-quarters of UK adults have at least one direct debit
commitment; the average person has at least six.
The UK economy depends on these critical services.
Unsurprisingly, we invest heavily to maintain our unsurpassed
record of reliability.
We're continually scaling up our infrastructure to accommodate
higher demand spikes and rising volumes.
We're justifiably proud that in all our years of operation we've
never lost a payment.
It's a record we fully intend to maintain.