Where does money go?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Where does money go?

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John2010

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#793730 5-Apr-2013 10:17

Just a comment about sending credit and bank cards and the like through the mail.

It is illegal to send negotiable instruments such as bank cards, credit cards, and the like through the international mail (this requirement also requires that cheques be not negotiable and prohibits the mailing of cash). Many convertible items (e.g. bonds, shares, deeds) are also prohibited.

As far as I know the fine is up to $5,000 (Postal Services Act).

This is a UPU requirement so will be illegal in any member country. I would have thought that the reason why this is so would be obvious, but appears to not be so to some.

c3rn

291 posts

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#793771 5-Apr-2013 11:24

ASB is on Geekzone right? Perhaps they would comment if you flick 'em a PM directing them to this thread?

thestokes

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#793772 5-Apr-2013 11:25

As a self declared banking geek I will have an attempt to explain this. As previous people have mentioned the SWIFT network is what all modern banks use to transmit directly mesages or instructions; almost all banks now use SWIFT as the primary means of communication for international payments. This however is not the settlement of funds. Funds could pass through a number of correspondant banks settlement accounts (Nostro) before it reaches your bank and then your bank account. Most of these settlements are done at end of day so if the money was passing through a number of correspondant bank accounts this will increase the number of days it takes to reach you. As an example if your NZ correspondant bank had accounts with RBS in the UK and the money was sent (in pounds) from Barclays this would take 3 days before it reached your NZ account. This is assuming a very straight forward process but there are a number of complicating factors including FX conversion and anti money laundeering...

Brendan

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#794161 6-Apr-2013 02:20

LennonNZ: I don't know if there are any bank geeks on here who may know the answer..

I got some money paid to me over easter (from overseas).. it took 7 days to get to me from when the payment was processed on the other end.

Where does the money go between someone saying please pay this person and me actually seeing it in my bank account. These days why does it take so long to get to me. Its not like a actual human does anything.

It only takes 3 days at most to courier a parcel from the US!

Do the banks keep my money, transfer it to a holding account to get interest on it during the time it disappears in the ether?

There are many computer information processing systems out there on the internet, processing trillions of data points an hour. Some of the biggest include muliplayer 3d games, Amazon, Google, and millions of web servers. They do it all in real time.

Banks process orders of magnitude less information and take days or more to do it. They often run antiquated computers and antiquated software, and it does not keep up.
They connected these antiquated machines up in convoluted, antiquated networks.

Money held by a bank - including yours, including if it's in transition - is considered the bank's asset. They are therefore legally allowed to lend out money based on those assets. The longer they hold it, the more they make. And transitional funds are especially tasty because they don't have to pay YOU any interest. It's free money. YOU are not allowed to do that; banks are. Because they paid for the laws allowing it.

The technology allows instant transfer of money*, with verification (cryptographic). But curiously such a system is not in place for banking...

Why ever could that be?

* Actually it's not money. It's numbers representing money#.

#Actually it's not money, it's bank notes referencing debit against assets the bank holds**

** Actually, it's not assets like you would count assets. It's all sorts of funky casino-like schemes and assumptions, with a tenuous relationship to reality. It's sort of like quantum physics - the closer you look the less sense it makes until it dissolves into a chaotic fuzz of probabilities - but while we have been able to confirm quantum physics, no such verification of theory is possible for our monetary 'system'.##

## Yes, that means it's all made up. You have been done. We all have. It's also why economics is not a true science; it shares more in common with religion. It works while no one questions it. Note: 'works' does not mean 'works for you'....

Handsomedan

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#794815 8-Apr-2013 08:28

Brendan:
LennonNZ: I don't know if there are any bank geeks on here who may know the answer..

I got some money paid to me over easter (from overseas).. it took 7 days to get to me from when the payment was processed on the other end.

Where does the money go between someone saying please pay this person and me actually seeing it in my bank account. These days why does it take so long to get to me. Its not like a actual human does anything.

It only takes 3 days at most to courier a parcel from the US!

Do the banks keep my money, transfer it to a holding account to get interest on it during the time it disappears in the ether?

There are many computer information processing systems out there on the internet, processing trillions of data points an hour. Some of the biggest include muliplayer 3d games, Amazon, Google, and millions of web servers. They do it all in real time.

Banks process orders of magnitude less information and take days or more to do it. They often run antiquated computers and antiquated software, and it does not keep up.
They connected these antiquated machines up in convoluted, antiquated networks.

Money held by a bank - including yours, including if it's in transition - is considered the bank's asset. They are therefore legally allowed to lend out money based on those assets. The longer they hold it, the more they make. And transitional funds are especially tasty because they don't have to pay YOU any interest. It's free money. YOU are not allowed to do that; banks are. Because they paid for the laws allowing it.

The technology allows instant transfer of money*, with verification (cryptographic). But curiously such a system is not in place for banking...

Why ever could that be?

* Actually it's not money. It's numbers representing money#.

#Actually it's not money, it's bank notes referencing debit against assets the bank holds**

** Actually, it's not assets like you would count assets. It's all sorts of funky casino-like schemes and assumptions, with a tenuous relationship to reality. It's sort of like quantum physics - the closer you look the less sense it makes until it dissolves into a chaotic fuzz of probabilities - but while we have been able to confirm quantum physics, no such verification of theory is possible for our monetary 'system'.##

## Yes, that means it's all made up. You have been done. We all have. It's also why economics is not a true science; it shares more in common with religion. It works while no one questions it. Note: 'works' does not mean 'works for you'....

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Bank ran off with your best friend?

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

sbiddle

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#794833 8-Apr-2013 08:59

freitasm: Most banks these days (at least BNZ and ANZ) seem to have multiple money transfer schedules a day. Most of the times a payment I send to ANZ shows up in less than three hours on the other side.

This of course is counting business days. Over Easter with a four days banking holiday things get out of hand. Still if I deposit money into someone's account on Thursday evening it should be on the other account Friday morning (even though a holiday, but the payment is processed).

Your bank may have different ways of doing things though..

ANZ payments went back to once a day when they moved to the National platform last year.

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