Plans by UK clearing house Bacs to slash the three-day cycle for
clearing payments by moving to a new Internet-protocol-based
network have received a qualified welcome from industry
analysts.
Nick HuberThe new IP network will allow Bacs' members to process
transactions more quickly and develop a next-day service for
processing direct debits and credits.
Analysts hailed Bacs' IT blueprint as a significant step forward
for the UK payment industry, but added that competing banks may
struggle to agree common security standards for the new network and
payment services.
"It is good news for batch processing but the big challenge will
be getting the banks to decide on a common structure and security
protocol," said Mark Simmons, senior analyst at Bloor Research.
Banks will also have to integrate their IT systems with the new
IP network and work closely to develop the technology to underpin
new payment services.
nick.huber@rbi.co.uk