Instant fund transfers will be available from January 2018
HOW many times have you covered an expense for a mate — take dinner, for example — and simply had them transfer you their share?
It’s incredibly frustrating to see the money pop up in your “account balance” and have to wait overnight for it to appear in your “available funds”.
That’s finally set to change, thanks for a billion-dollar technology upgrade.
Customers of Australia’s big four banks, as well as 50 smaller institutions, will be able to instantly transfer money from January next year.
The big four banks have led the charge on the new technology. Picture: Joel CarrettSource:News Corp Australia
The ABC reports the upgrade follows a review of Australia’s payment systems in 2012, and is set to be in operation as soon as Australia Day.
Adrian Lovney, chief executive of New Payments Platform — the company building the new technology — told the broadcaster it will be good for businesses.
“Through the weekend, public holidays, at 3 o’clock in the morning — funds will arrive in the recipient’s bank account in about 30 to 45 seconds,” he said.
“The core benefit at launch is the faster receipt of money in real time, and that will happen 24/7, 365 days a year.”
“(Customers expect things to happen instantly, with a mobile phone, in a 24/7 digital economy — they expect if I’m going to send you money that you’ll receive it today and not next week.”
It means you’ll no longer have to wait a whole weekend for things to process. Picture: iStockSource:istock
However, one of the key struggles is ensuring fraud mechanisms are up to scratch.
The current delay allows banks ample opportunity to scan transactions for fraud, and for banks to catch it and stop it before it becomes an issue.
“What we might see is people using the speed of the system to rip people off or to con people or to trick people in ways that they do today, but faster,” Mr Lovney said.
“We’ve been hearing a lot recently about the ATO scams — people ringing up pretending to be from the Tax Office — or we also see lots of activity around romance scams.”
Once it’s up and running, you’ll finally be able to stop hassling your mates to cough up their share of a night out.
Source: news.com.au
