Faster Payments Service

On 27 May 2008 the UK banking industry introduced a new payment system known as the Faster Payments Service. This service allows you to send and receive low value, sterling payments on a near real time basis, every day of the year including weekends and Bank Holidays.

Standing orders are also sent through the Faster Payments Service where possible.

To send a Faster Payment, both sending and receiving banks need to be members of the Faster Payments Service and the amount of the payment needs to be within the limits set for the scheme. The Faster Payments Service is seperate to CHAPS (same day value payments) which is unchanged and is available for high value payments.

Most major banks are in the scheme. Where a bank is not in the scheme or a payment value is outside the scheme rules the payment will either have to be sent via CHAPS or the three working day cycle via BACS.

It is important to note that most Faster Payments will reach the receiving bank in near real time*, but in some cases e.g. credit card payments, the funds may take more time to reach the individual account. Payments to Coutts Credit or Charge cards made by Coutts Online Banking or Coutts Card Services will usually be made within the Faster Payments timescales if they are within the scheme limits. If you are making a payment to another Card company, you should check with the Card company concerned for appropriate payment times.

*Near real time – The payment will be received by the payee, almost immediately after leaving your account, but sometimes up to two hours later, providing the payment amount is within the Faster Payments set limits.

For further information on how Faster Payments affects you, please select one of the links below.

Private clients

I am a private client, how does this affect me?

> Click here to find out more

Commercial clients

I am a commercial client, how does this affect me?

> Click here to find out more