Quicker money transfers set to go

One of the great innovations of the internet when it comes to finance is being able to move money between your bank accounts from the convenience of your own computer. No need to make a dash to the bank on a Friday afternoon anymore, just log in and off your go.

But even this has had it’s minor annoyances – up until now a transfer has taken two days for your money to change over and this does not include weekends.

This week, Tuesday in fact, a new scheme will be launched whereby a transfer of funds will take just two hours however it will be introduced gradually with just several banks to begin with. But don’t get too excited just yet; just 5% of phone and internet payments will be covered with standing orders joining the mix on June 6th. By August 50% of all personal account payments will be covered and business account holders will have access to the service at the end of the year.

The seven institutions from which you will be able to send and receive payments from next week include Barclays, Citibank, Northern Bank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks and Royal Bank of Scotland (which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank).

However you will only be able to transfer a maximum of £5 at first with Barclays, which will raise this limit to £100 by early June and £10,000 by July 16. Customers of Alliance & Leicester, HBOS, Nationwide and Northern Rock will only be able to receive payments initially.

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