Faster Payments Service now live

Payments industry marks opening of new service with £10,000 donation to Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal.

APACS, the UK payments association, has confirmed that the infrastructure for the new Faster Payments Service is now live, with payments from midnight being processed through the new system. By 7am this morning 898 payments had been made to a value of £461,383.43.

In keeping with the phased approach banks have begun today to offer customers the facility to send or receive payments processed through the new system. By the end of the year the majority of the UK's internet, phone and standing order payments are expected to be made using the new system.

From today, Barclays, Citi, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks (National Australia Group), HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Northern Bank (Danske Bank) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group are sending and receiving phone and internet payments, and Alliance & Leicester, HBOS, Nationwide Building Society and Northern Rock are receiving these payments. As part of the phased rollout, some financial institutions are placing lower initial limits on the value of payments that can be sent or alternatively they may be choosing to phase rollout across their customer accounts.

To mark the introduction of the service all thirteen founding members joined together to make a charity donation of £10,000 to Oxfam for the Disasters Emergency Committee's (DEC) Burma Cyclone Appeal: one of the very first payments in the early hours of this morning was to the appeal; this arrived at the charity within a couple of hours rather than taking three working days as it would have done in the past.

Graham Mackay, Oxfam's Deputy Humanitarian Director said: "Oxfam is grateful to have received £10,000 toward the DEC Burma Cyclone Appeal from the payments industry. This money will help Oxfam and other members of the DEC to deliver vital aid to the many thousands of people affected by Cyclone Nargis."

The Faster Payments Service enables banks to process one-off payments made over the internet or by phone within hours, not days, benefiting customers by speeding up the clearing of their payments. Customers are able to make internet and phone payments outside of banking hours even at the weekend. The service will also speed up standing order payments, enabling them to be cleared on the day they are sent on bank working days. Standing orders will start to be processed through the Faster Payments Service from 6th June.

Customers do not need to make any change to any payments. Any payment that is not processed through the new service will continue to be made using the existing Bacs three-day service. They will be informed directly by their banks when they are able to use the service.