Today, there is no reason why it should take a bank long to clear a transaction. This is something that has been accepted by customers and has allowed banks to quietly profit – because “that’s the way it’s always been done.”

Imagine this scenario, you need to send money to a friend in another country. With most traditional banks the fastest way to do so is not three seconds, not three minutes, not even three hours, but 3-5 business days! 

Then there is the issue of banks only processing transactions on business days. If you think getting your money back from a bank in 14 business days is speedy, then think more like three weeks to a month once weekends and public holidays are included. Even transferring money between your own bank accounts can take days.

Doing things differently

At hi we do things differently. We believe that global money transfers should be as simple and as quick as saying hi in a chat messenger – no matter where you live. (see what we did there? ;-)) 

Technically, digital money is no different to bits in an email.The transfer of funds on hi is designed to be entirely frictionless. hi accounts are accessible through a number of social media and communication platforms, and transaction speeds are almost instantaneous.

Earning money off customers

Banks claim that they don’t allow instant transfers in order to reduce the risk of fraud, but it also shows that they are set up to profit off their customer’s money. 

Here’s how. When a check is sent electronically, a bank often deducts the money from a customer’s account the moment they submit it even though they may not send the check for several more days. During that time, the bank can earn interest on it until the funds leave the bank.

It can also take a customer several days to transfer funds to another bank. In the meantime they can get hit with overdraft fees even though their money is waiting to be cleared. 

Your bank sends transactions in batches during the day to an automated clearinghouse. The clearinghouse sorts the transactions and then, moves them on to the receiving bank. In many cases the receiving bank will have the funds the same day but generally the funds may not be available until the next day. 

This is the best case – it can be slower as many traditional banks have limited hours for when funds can be transferred and do not operate on public holidays. Who wants snail speed when you need your money?

Making a payment anytime

Most financial institutions do not work 24/7, 7 days a week. This world of crypto does. This gives hi a major advantage as fund transfers and payments can be done anytime, and not limited by working hours so can provide a faster transfer of funds to people and businesses when they need them most.

As hi services also work around the world, this is particularly helpful when making or receiving a payment from another country as different public holidays, time zones and the simple timing of a transfer can cause yet more delays when using a traditional bank.

At the moment traditional banks offer a closed shop of bad service and short working hours, but this is being exposed. At hi we are ready for the change, and are helping our members to access and transfer funds instantly anytime they want. It’s as simple as that – no time delay, no hassle, and we always put out members first.