Evolution of the Payment Systems of London Clearing Banks

The London Clearing Banks (LCBs) have successfully used payment systems to establish a customer franchise, through which they have gained cheap retail deposits and provided lending and other services. Yet they have failed to price the service rationally. Market growth has dramatically increased the volume of payments, exacerbating the cost problem. To counter this, the LCBs have introduced additional payment mechanisms such as credit cards and Bankers' Automated Clearing Service (BACS); are introducing electronic fund transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS); and are further automating the existing cash and cheque-based system. The development of the clearing house, BA CS and EFTPOS demonstrates how payment systems impose co-operative policies to facilitate the transfer of funds and reduce costs, but such enforced co-operation ten& to lead to perfect competition, with uniform pricing policies. Competitors are in a strong position to operate more efficient and less expensive payments media for their customers. The dilemma facing the LCBs is therefore how to match this challenge and maintain their market position through further investment in payments technology, while maintaining their existing less efficient and more expensive payments media.