Banks...

Can anyone explain to me why it takes British banks so long to clear electronically transferred funds?

On new years day my bank processed a standing order, transferring funds to another account. This is nothing unusual, as I make this transfer every month. My question is where did the money go from the 1st (when it was taken out of one account) until today (when it appeared in the other)?

In the good old days, when we used to give each other cheques, I understand that clearing funds used to take a while. After all, the cheques needed to be sorted by hand, transported to the clearinghouse, handed over and payment made. But surely all this is now done by computers over a secure network these days? And surely with modern computers these transactions should be almost instantaneous?

Given that I can go anywhere in the world and withdraw cash from an ATM machine and it will debited from my account instantly, why the delay in transferring funds?

Before anyone takes the time to try and come up with any explanation other than the fact that it is example of the banks profiteering, let me point out that I know the banks make a lot of money by investing this ‘limbo cash’ on the markets and so obviously they would like to be able to invest it for as long as possible.

I wonder if the British Public will ever wake up to the fact that we are constantly being ripped off by the banks and demand a change in these practices?
After all, wasn’t it the chairman of Barclays that said to the treasury select committee that he saw nothing wrong with making excessive profits from his customers?