Faster Payments Not Cleared for Take-Off
The planned launch of the new, faster payments service has been postponed. Originally scheduled for launch in November the system has proved to be more complex than was originally envisaged and it is now unlikely to see the light of day until 2008 although the banking industry hope to announce a revised launch date during August. However, unaffected by the delay are the proposed changes to the cheque clearing processes which are still on track for November. Changes to the cheque clearing process will provide increased transparency and certainty but the key benefit will be for customers who accept cheques. For the first time a customer will be assured that after six working days funds cannot be reclaimed, typically if the cheque turns out to be fraudulent or should there be insufficient funds in the payers account.
