Stupid Bankers

In 1943 Thomas Watson, the then chairman of IBM, said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." With hindsight, this was a bit of an understatement to say the least, and the idea of the transistor, let alone the silicon chip, were still fantasy. Were it not for the microchip, the world we live in today would simply not exist.

Still, never let it be said that IBM sat around twiddling their thumbs. Rather than manufacturing punch card readers, cash tills and computers for the US military, they had the foresight to make something far bigger – something that would change the face of the world as we know it. Quite simply, if it wasn’t for the IBM 5150 Personal Computer I wouldn’t have written this blog entry on my own home PC or published it on the Internet for you to be reading now.

Anyway, you may well be asking where I’m going with this.

Well, we live in the age of the computer where there’s a microchip in everything from a birthday card to a wheelie-bin. It even helped to supposedly put a man on the moon. The world is simply ruled by the computer and banks in particular would simply not function without them. They have rooms stuffed full of massive mainframe computers that handle customer accounts, cash point transactions, Internet banking and automatically sending out statements and nasty letters telling you that you’re over drawn – and all in the blink of an eye.

So with all of this wonderful technology, why does it take three days for your bank to move money from one account to another? Why does it take so long for an electronic transfer (no human hands or eyes are required) to remove money from one account (which is always instant I might add) and then wing its way from one computer (which is quite possibly sat on the other side of the room) to another?

Perhaps computers aren’t as advanced as I first thought. Either that, or it’s a shameless money making scheme by the banking industry that makes billions of dollars a year on the international money market and yet sends you a stinging letter, and charging you for the privilege, whenever you go overdrawn by a few pence.

Oh, and just don't get me started on their junk mail...