Tuesday 27th May 2008
This week sees the launch of the Faster Payments Service by UK payments association Apacs.
May 27th marked the first day of the systems availability, with processing going live as of midnight that morning.
Within the first seven hours, Apacs states that £461,383.43 in transactions were processed across 898 payments.
The organisation advises that those hoping to benefit from the new service need not take any action, as the transition is automatic.
However, some individuals are currently still on the old Bankers Automated Clearing Services or Bacs system.
Standing orders are as yet not covered by the new system either, although they are due to be incorporated into it as of June 6th.
Apacs asserts that this will allow standing orders to be processed on the same day, if it is an ordinary working day for UK banks.
Meanwhile, telephone and internet-based payments should also clearly within hours, rather than taking a number of days.
The Faster Payments Service is expected to be used for the majority of transactions by the end of 2008.
Among the first payments to be made after midnight was a donation of £10,000 from the 13 founding members of the service to the Burma Cyclone Appeal being coordinated by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
Graham Mackay, deputy humanitarian director at Oxfam, commented on the donation: "This money will help Oxfam and other members of the DEC to deliver vital aid to the many thousands of people affected by Cyclone Nargis."
The official rollout of the system follows a live testing process during which a number of payments amounting to pence values were made between the participating banks.
Paul Smee, Apacs chief executive, called such tests the final part of what has been an "enormously complex project".
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