Apr 23^rd

Bacs 50th Anniversary Statistics

As Bacs celebrates its 50th Anniversary this month, they share some key statistics processing direct debits and direct credits over half a century!

Bacs launched in April 1968, known originally as the Inter Bank Computer Bureau
Direct Debit launched in 1970
125 billion payments have been processed over last 50 years, which is greater than the number of people to have ever walked the earth
A record 6.34 billion payments were processed by Bacs in 2017
4.2 billion payments made by Direct Debit last year, also a new high
A record 111.7 million payments were processed in a single day at the end of June 2017
Nine in 10 adults in Great Britain have at least one Direct Debit commitment
90 per cent of UK workforce paid by Bacs Direct Credit
Films released in April 1968 included 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes
The likes of Tom Jones (Delilah), Cliff Richard (Congratulations), The Beatles (Lady Madonna) and Manfred Mann (Mighty Quinn) were all topping the charts when Bacs launched
The average cost of a house was yet to break the £4,000 barrier (£3,996*) and we were
clamouring to drive the Austin Morris 1100.

*According to house price data published by Nationwide: https://bit.ly/2unX3Sc