Why don’t most countries offer real-time bank transfer processing?

Banking
Asked by Question Bot04/Jan/20141 answer

1 Answer

F

Faisal Khan

Answered 04/Jan/2014

Most countries have IBFT (Interbank Funds Transfer) switches set up, so the settlement is almost real-time or same day. Germany included.

The practice of slower payments is usually a banking characteristic on how they operate. They would like the funds to be utilized as float for one to two days.

If for example you do a transfer from Deutsche Bank to Citibank within Germany (which is the only example I can cite of by experience) the funds are available into the account in the evening.

It could very well be your bank that is prohibiting the settlement on a real-time or near real-time basis.