question: Bank/money transfers taking “business days” when everything is automatic and computerized?
comment: There's a lot of people trying to technically explain why instant back transfers can't happen. In the UK we have instant bank transfers including between different banks. So no matter what explanations people throw at you, yes it absolutely is possible. All it needs is the will to implement. In the UK it happened because there was a bit of a public/newspaper/consumer watchdog outcry over this when it used to take days. I didn't hear of any banks going through significant hardship making the switch and it all happen fairly rapidly. URL_0 Edit: Having found the link above, the technical process to implement the system took about 2 years. The process from initial government proposal and consultation to awarding a contract took 9 years.
passages: PSC embarked on computerization of its operations and back office in 1984. The first system to handle container movements became operational from 1985 to 1999. Thereafter the computer applications were enhanced to cover all back office operations including invoicing and accounts.
   BULLET::::- the constant change in the world political environments, unsatisfiable payment systems, and/or a rapid continuously changing financial sector;
  
  BULLET::::- a lack of easily accessible formal financial institutions in remote areas of some countries;
  
  BULLET::::- transfers that are more efficient, reliable, and cheaper than formal financial institutions. (For example, a wire transfer of funds using banks involves fees charged to the sender and receiver, may take from two to seven days to complete, and may be delayed or lost. Funds moved through IVTS are usually available within 24 hours, with minimal or no fees charged to the participants);
   Since the 1980s, credit cards and international wire transfer systems like the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) were primary methods for making and receiving electronic cross-border payments. Within individual countries, payers and payees have used various electronic systems to make such payments. In the United States, for instance, the Federal Reserve Bank operates the automated clearing house (ACH) system. In most EU countries direct debit is the preferred method of facilitating electronic payments. 
   The development of computer technology in the second part of the twentieth century allowed money to be represented digitally. By 1990, in the United States all money transferred between its central bank and commercial banks was in electronic form. By the 2000s most money existed as digital currency in banks databases. In 2012, by number of transaction, 20 to 58 percent of transactions were electronic (dependant on country).
  
  Section::::1990–present.:Cryptocurrencies.
   One of the earliest forms of trade conducted online was IBM's online transaction processing (OLTP) developed in the 1960s and it allowed the processing of financial transactions in real-time. The computerized ticket reservation system developed for American Airlines called Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment (SABRE) was one of its applications. Here, computer terminals located in different travel agencies were linked to a large IBM mainframe computer, which processed transactions simultaneously and coordinated them so that all travel agents had access to the same information at the same time.
   Traditionally, making payments involves many departments in a bank. Both initiating a payment to be sent and processing a received payment may take days. In the past, payments were initiated through numerous "human-friendly" (aka paper-based) means, such as a human through a paper order, over the phone, or via fax. The payment order was input into the bank's payment system, then confirmed by a supervisor. This confirmation ensured an accurate match of input versus order before sending the payment. When multiple banks, countries or currencies were involved, the process often took several hours. When the complexity of the payment was higher, the amount of labor increased and additional human intervention resulted in more risk of errors, longer processing time, and higher costs.
   The ways these payments are made can be cumbersome, error prone, and expensive. Growth, after all, is often messy. Payments systems set up decades ago continue to be used sometimes retrofitted, sometimes force-fitted—to meet the needs of modern corporations. And, not infrequently, the systems creak and groan as they bear the strain. As an example of such systems includes, STEP2 (an upgrade from 2003) processes only Euros and TARGET2 (an upgrade from 2007) is closed on Saturdays and Sundays and some public holidays.
   EFT transactions are known by a number of names across countries and different payment systems. For example, in the United States, they may be referred to as "electronic checks" or "e-checks". In the United Kingdom, the term "bank transfer" and "bank payment" are used, while in several other European countries "giro transfer" is the common term.
  
  Section::::Types.
  
  EFTs include, but are not limited to:
  
  BULLET::::- automated teller machine (ATM) transfers;
  
  BULLET::::- direct deposit payment or withdrawals of funds initiated by the payer;
   Almost simultaneously with the United States, online banking arrived in the United Kingdom. The UK's first home online banking services known as Homelink was set up by Bank of Scotland for customers of the Nottingham Building Society (NBS) in 1983. The system used was based on the UK's Prestel viewlink system and used a computer, such as the BBC Micro, or keyboard (Tandata Td1400) connected to the telephone system and television set. The system allowed on-line viewing of statements, bank transfers and bill payments. In order to make bank transfers and bill payments, a written instruction giving details of the intended recipient had to be sent to the NBS who set the details up on the Homelink system. Typical recipients were gas, electricity and telephone companies and accounts with other banks. Details of payments to be made were input into the NBS system by the account holder via Prestel. A cheque was then sent by NBS to the payee and an advice giving details of the payment was sent to the account holder. BACS was later used to transfer the payment directly.
   Started in November 2005, the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) system is a nationwide system that facilitates individuals, firms and corporates to electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country.It is done via electronic messages. Even though it is not on real time basis like RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), hourly batches are run in order to speed up the transactions.
   The development of computer technology in the second part of the twentieth century allowed money to be represented digitally. By 1990, in the United States all money transferred between its central bank and commercial banks was in electronic form. By the 2000s most money existed as digital currency in bank databases. In 2012, by number of transaction, 20 to 58 percent of transactions were electronic (dependant on country).
   In the last decade, a number of electronic alternatives to money orders have emerged and have, in some cases, supplanted money orders as the preferred cash transmission method. Many of these alternatives use the ubiquitous Visa/MasterCard payment systems to settle transactions. In Japan, the konbini system enables cash to cash transfers and is available at many of the thousands of convenience stores located in the country. In Italy, the PostePay system is offered through the Italian post office. In Ireland, 3V is offered through mobile top-up locations. In the United States, PaidByCash is offered at 60,000 grocery and convenience stores. In Bangladesh, mobile banking services enable electronic transfer of money as well as retail transactions.
   According to a survey by Celent, the ratio of e-payments to paper based transactions has considerably increased between 2004 and 2008. This has happened as a result of advances in technology and increasing consumer awareness of the ease and efficiency of internet and mobile transactions.
   The year 1996 saw the first generation of forex online trading platforms. As a result, foreign exchange and customers' markets flourished. Web-technology not only allowed retail foreign exchange trading to foster easy and fast ways for customers to access the markets, but also currency pairs while making trades from their own computers.
   EFTS transfers are often called "ACH transfers", because they take place through Automated Clearing Houses.
  
  One important way ACH transfers differ from wire transfer is that the recipient can initiate it. There are of course restrictions, but this is the way people often set up automatic bill payment with utility companies, for example.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Automated Clearing House
  
  BULLET::::- ATM card
  
  BULLET::::- Bank fraud
  
  BULLET::::- Electronic bill payment
  
  BULLET::::- E-commerce payment system
  
  BULLET::::- Money transmitter
  
  BULLET::::- Payment card industry
  
  BULLET::::- Payment gateway
  
  BULLET::::- Payment system
  
  BULLET::::- Payment Services Directive
  
  BULLET::::- Payments as a platform
  
  BULLET::::- Prepayment for service
   Payment systems may be physical or electronic and each has its own procedures and protocols. Standardization has allowed some of these systems and networks to grow to a global scale, but there are still many country-specific and product-specific systems. Examples of payment systems that have become globally available are credit card and automated teller machine networks. Other specific forms of payment systems are also used to settle financial transactions for products in the equity markets, bond markets, currency markets, futures markets, derivatives markets, options markets. Additionally. forms exist to transfer funds between financial institutions. Domestically this is accomplished by using Automated clearing house and real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems. Internationally this is accomplished using the SWIFT network.
   Before ICT, services were handled using paper-based bankbooks and checks. Now, customers can easily complete financial transactions by telephone, network, or mobile phone. Some banks have even developed applications that allow customers to deposit money by simply taking a photo of a check.
   There are other companies in this market, like ACE Money Transfer, RIA Financial Services, MoneyGram and VFX Financial PLC and LCC Money Transfer (both based in Europe) as well as Azimo, Dwolla, TransferGo, and TransferWise.
   In the 1960s, computer use in the business sector began with payroll transactions and later included tasks in areas such as accounting and billing. At that time, users entered data, and the system processed it at a later time. Further development of instantaneous data processing, or online transaction processing (OLTP), led to widespread OLTP use in government and business-sector information systems.
   Standard transaction-processing software, such as IBM's Information Management System, was first developed in the 1960s, and was often closely coupled to particular database management systems. Client–server computing implemented similar principles in the 1980s with mixed success. However, in more recent years, the distributed client–server model has become considerably more difficult to maintain. As the number of transactions grew in response to various online services (especially the Web), a single distributed database was not a practical solution. In addition, most online systems consist of a whole suite of programs operating together, as opposed to a strict client–server model where the single server could handle the transaction processing. Today a number of transaction processing systems are available that work at the inter-program level and which scale to large systems, including mainframes.
   From 2001 to 2005, the average number of transactions by year is over 630 million. The number has been rising every year; 719 million were recorded in 2005. This has since grown substantially, with 900 million operations recorded in 2014.
  
  Section::::Security.
   As EDI and web technology have evolved, new EDI software technologies have emerged to facilitate direct (also known as point-to-point) EDI between trading partners. Modern EDI software can facilitate exchanges using any number of different file transmission protocols and EDI document standards, reducing costs and barriers to entry.
  
  Section::::Transmission: Direct EDI and VANs.:Value-added networks.
   Prior to this, in 2002 the European Union relegated the regulation of fees a bank may charge for payments in euro between EU member states down to the domestic level, resulting in very low or no fees for electronic transfers within the Eurozone. In 2005, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway joined the EU regulation on electronic transfers. However, this regulation was superseded by the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), consisting of 32 European countries.
  
  In the United States, domestic wire transfers are governed by Federal Regulation J and by Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code.
   In December 1990, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS), consisting of representatives from the major central banks, initiated further study of DVP. Its report in September 1992 found three ways of achieving DvP:
  
  BULLET::::1. Transfer of securities and funds done on a trade-by-trade basis, with final transfer of securities occurring at the same time as the final transfer of funds;
  
  BULLET::::2. Transfer of securities on a gross basis, with final transfer of securities occurring throughout the day, but funds transfer on a net basis at the end of the day;
   Section::::History.:First online banking services by region.:France.
  
  After a test period with 2,500 users starting in 1994, online banking services were launched in 1998, using Minitel terminals that were distributed freely to the population by the government.
  
  By 1990, 6.5 million Minitels were installed in households. Online banking was one of the most popular services.
  
  Online banking services later migrated to Internet.
  
  Section::::History.:First online banking services by region.:Japan.
  
presuppositions: Bank transfers should not take multiple days when verything is computerized.
corrections: Bank transfers can be quicker than they are in the US it just takes laws and infrastructure to be put in place. 
raw_presuppositions: Bank transfers should not take multiple days when verything is computerized. Bank transfers take multiple days even though everything is computerized.
raw_corrections: Bank transfers can be quicker than they are in the US it just takes laws and infrastructure to be put in place.  Bank transfers can be quicker than they are in the US it just takes laws and infrastructure to be put in place. 