New balance transfer system goes live
Britons will be able to make bank transfers in a matter of hours as of today, thanks to the introduction of a new system. Apacs' Faster Payment System will cut the time it takes customers to make one-off payments by phone or over the internet from the current duration of around three-days. The system is in place at Barclays, Citigroup, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Northern Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.Pula Houghton, campaigns policy manager at Which?, said: "One of the mysteries of the banking world, the payment transfer black hole, is at last disappearing. "Same day transfers should have been standard practice years ago, yet the banks have been earning £30 million a year from the status quo. We just hope they will be quicker to make this a reality for everyone now."Alliance & Leicester, HBOS, Northern Rock and Nationwide will only be receiving the faster payments initially rather than sending them out, but plan to introduce the system fully later in the year.
Share this..
Related stories
Bank of England stokes up fury of the City
Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's head of financial stability, has poked another stick at the UK financial sector with a suggestion that an exodus of bankers is a "price worth paying". In the interview on the BBC World Service's Business Daily programme, Mr. Haldane presented a grim view of the banking system, and one that is likely to provoke more fury from the city during a period of continuou...
Read MoreWill the Chelsea building society fall to a rival?
As the ongoing fallout from the £41 million alleged mortgage fraud which was discovered by the company's auditors continues, there is a feeling that the Chelsea building society's days of independence could be numbered. A new management board has been parachuted in to assess the situation and while in public they are talking about a reorganisation of the business and a return to grassroots, many...
Read MoreWhy Is Gordon Brown So Quiet?
In the good times Gordon Brown is regularly splashed across the TV screens but there are growing concerns that the PM is running scared even after last weeks relative success against the Conservative Party and the David Davies saga. At a time when the Chancellor has been feeling some serious heat from those in the City, with many concerned that the UK economy is about to fall off a cliff, where i...
Read MoreUK unemployment at 1.7 million
The number of unemployed people in Britain has risen by more than 100,000 since the beginning of 2007 to reach a total of 1.7 million.According to official government figures, the unemployment rate over the last quarter was up 0.3 per cent on last year at 5.5 per cent, with 13,000 extra jobless people recorded between January and March.But the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says that the num...
Read More