Comments on: The payments system is a vital public service – why don’t we run it like one?

By: Ralph Musgrave

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 09:45:00 +0000

So you’re proposing what? No banks at all? If so, that’s not very realistic.

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By: jacob schot

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:09:00 +0000

Those who offer bank reform as solution have no leg to stand on. rules and regulations can only temper an inherently terminal system. #pfmpe

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By: Anand R

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:33:00 +0000

The idea is a welcome suggestion and in a global scheme of things it is not as radical as it sounds. One just needs to get away from past legacy systems and look around the world to Asia where new robust and public infrastructure is being built exactly as envisaged in the article. In Thailand, Singapore regulators are building new technology platforms which offer easy, interoperable transfers on public infrastructure. India is the most advanced in Asia in having a full payment infrastructure – B2B, B2C, C2C, etc. on independent public infrastructure operated by NPCI (a not for profit entity) set up by association of central bank and participating banks (https://www.npci.org.in/about-us-background) – the infrastructure now offers effectively instant transfers (with full reverse KYC & AML validation) for small transactions of a few pence to large transactions running into millions of pounds – all on same robust infrastructure. In a financial technology conference this week in Singapore the regulators in Thailand/India/Singapore decided to work together to link up the payment systems in each of the countries to ensure that customers in either can do seamless transactions in the other without having to worry about the current process of paying bank charges, etc. Technology can enable the suggestion to happen in a fast pace, if only vested interests are tacked. Just to give credence – I am copying below a paragraph from website of NPCI which will sound like a dream solution to above article (but it exists and operates today) – “Considering the utility nature of the objects of NPCI, it has been
incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of
Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (India),
with an intention to provide infrastructure to the entire Banking system
in India for physical as well as electronic payment and settlement
systems.”

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By: ANGRY_MODERATE

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 20:18:00 +0000

It’s called delusion — commonly held by people with low creativity and a determination to hold onto ideological beliefs that their betters have instructed them are correct. It used to be commonplace with religious ideology, but political beliefs — especially neoliberal nonsense about the virtues of free markets — are its main location these days.

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By: cantloginas_Momo

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 07:22:00 +0000

Er, um, you “see” things the rest of us don’t, William.

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By: ANGRY_MODERATE

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 22:10:00 +0000

Railways, water, electricity, gas, phone and internet, security services like G4S, schools, GPs… the list of disastrous privatisations is endless, but ideological fools (and usually those who have invested in the new private companies) will continue to deny reality to their deathbeds.

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By: William MacDougall

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 06:41:00 +0000

Come now, I think most have found FedEx, DHL, and others a great improvement, and a way of escaping bad service from Royal Mail. Experience with privatised monopolies like the water companies is a more complex issue…

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By: ANGRY_MODERATE

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 00:36:00 +0000

I don’t think so. Really, it seems to vary a lot across the UK with no clear minimum standard of service.

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By: cantloginas_Momo

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 23:23:00 +0000

Has the delivery of cards become unreliable too?

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By: cantloginas_Momo

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 23:18:00 +0000

How very odd that your experience with privatised services differs so much from what the rest of us experience. I wonder of course if ideology has such an impact on your vision or if your parcel delivery has an extra service for the few supporters of privatisation.

Do you by any chance enjoy British privatised railways, too?

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By: ANGRY_MODERATE

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 20:03:00 +0000

I doubt that anyone even sends him cards, let alone parcels.

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By: ANGRY_MODERATE

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 20:01:00 +0000

One wonders what sort of parcels you received. The UK postal service deteriorated after privatisation, and of course telegrams were abolished by the witch Thatcher — decades before emails existed. Public goods are part of civilisation, but right wing crooks eschew such things and prefer massive profits in privatised services that they and their friends own. Corruption reigns supreme for Tory Britain!

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By: ANGRY_MODERATE

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 19:57:00 +0000

Excellent article, but of course the rabid Tories will never listen to sensible ideas about the real economy.

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By: William MacDougall

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 17:31:00 +0000

I often receive parcels, and the service improved greatly when parcel delivery was opened up to private competition…

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By: cantloginas_Momo

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 16:26:00 +0000

What! I suspect nobody has ever been trying to send you a parcel, William.

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By: William MacDougall

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 13:54:00 +0000

Because vital public services, at least when they can be competitive rather than monopolies, are more or less always run better by the private sector. We can argue about natural monopolies like water, and how much regulation might be helpful, but where competition is possible the evidence for the private sector is pretty clear. It’s no different from food production and shops…

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By: Nicholas Gruen

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 11:45:00 +0000

Thanks for this Frances

I’ve proposed something similar with a super-safe lending arm as I think you’re aware.

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2017/04/15/making-the-reserve-bank-peoples-bank/14921784004504

http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/central-banking-all-modest-case-radical-reform

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