[mullingitover]

Are these really innovations, or just convoluted workarounds for problems that other countries have actually solved? I don't think anyone under 40 in Europe has ever written a check, for example, because wires are far more convenient there.

[hyperman1]

Agree. This 40 year old european has seen/used exactly 1 cheque in his life, to buy the house. For some complicated legal reason, houses can not be bought with normal means of payment. We had to walk with the flimsy piece of paper from the bank to the notary, where a bank representative was actually sitting. We gave it to the notary, the notary gave it to the previous owner, and they had to walk it back to their bank. We both felt like stone age caveman, except the previous owners already did it once in the 1980's when they bought the house, so it was the 2nd cheque they saw in their lives.

We asked the banker what would happen if we were robbed. He said he'd just write a new one. The thief couldn't do anything with it, as it was all on name only, and the extremely low daily volume of cheques in use would mean cashing it would stand out like a sore thumb.

[Scoundreller]

System-wide Innovation is a lot easier when one’s country has a handful of banks. USA has ~4500 banks, 12x the #2 country, Russia.

https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/what-country-has-the-mos...

[gdy]

In Russia money transfers are mostly instant. What stops american banks from using new software and new payment protocols?

[astrange]

There are instant transfers (Zelle, wire transfers, debit cards). There aren't instant transfers with all the same properties as ACH, but later this year there will be.

[gdy]

Interesting. What makes ACH special?