Bacs is a not-for-profit, membership based, industry body, responsible for the processing of 5.5 billion payments a year. In June 2007, the number of transactions processed in one day hit an all time high of more than 83 million. 

It is owned by 13 of the leading banks and building societies in the UK and Europe. It has been at the heart of the payments industry for almost 40 years and is responsible for the schemes behind the clearing and settlement of automated payments in the UK and maintaining the integrity of payment related services. Bacs is also developing and will manage the scheme for direct corporate and bureau access to the Faster Payments processing infrastructure, employing expertise and elements from its current solution set.

Bacs provides two principal electronic payment schemes; Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit. Payments made by these two schemes in 2007 equated to approximately £3.7 trillion. These products have increased convenience and provided peace of mind for tens of millions of consumers through the delivery of safe and efficient payments. Almost three quarters of British adults are positively disposed towards Direct Debit. 75% of adults now have at least one Direct Debit commitment and approximately 115,000 businesses use Bacs services.

For more information about Bacs you can visit their website:
http://www.bacs.co.uk