BRITAIN’S high street banks have bowed to pressure from the Bank of England to cut the time it takes to transfer money from one account to another.
After decades of complaints from consumers, the banks announced a cut from about three days to one, but claim that it will take more than two years to bring in computer systems to effect the change.
According to research, the banks profit by at least £25 million a year from slow money transfers.
The announcement comes after recent public pressure from Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England. Earlier this year, in front of the Treasury Select Committee, Mr King expressed concern that slow electronic processing put Britain at a disadvantage to other countries.