Faster and Slower Payments

Dateline: Paris, 18th September 2024.More than once in recent weeks I’ve had people ask why I am interested in digital currency, account-to-account transfers and decentralised finance. More than once, they’ve said something along the lines of “payments work well” or possibly even “the payments sector is cost-effective and provides excellent value for money”. I am unconvinced. Here are my last three payments. You can judge whether you think that the payments industry is working well or not.SharePayments in PracticeFirst, I needed to send some money to a friend of mine (who I have sent money to before) for sundry purposes of no relevance to the narrative. I decided to use instant payments (or what we in the UK call “faster payments”). I opened up my bank app and entered his account details. The confirmation of payee came back good, so I pressed the send button. I was just about to text him and tell him that I’d sent the money when a message from the bank popped up to tell me that they would be carrying out security checks so that my payment might be delayed. They said that they “usually” finish the checks and send the money within four hours, although it might take until the end of the next working day. (In fact they called me after about three hours to complete the security checks and allow the transfer.)In case you are wondering what this hold up is all about, remember that the UK was first into instant…Faster and Slower Payments