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It beats me why a bank would want to perpetuate an archaic payment system. Isn't it is about time that the cheque is finally put out of its misery?

It's all very well to suggest that one commits ones PIN to memory and does not write it down. But whoever came up with this sage piece of advice is assuming that the user has a single bank card and absolutely nothing else in the way of a PIN or password. Either that or they are oblivious to reality. The plethora of rules and restrictions, especially in the construction of PINs which varies from institution to institution has already sown the seeds of confusion. Just assume that card "A" requires a 4 digit PIN while card "B" demands a 6 digit PIN and that in neither case are any sequential digits allowed. Then throw in card "C" which has a bank allocated 5 digit PIN. Three cards and we already have confusion. Add to this mix the fact that one may have Internet access to all three institutions and that each demands a different user name and password, often consisting of a combination of digits and letters and which has to be changes on a regular basis. No way can I personally function on memory alone. And that is the reason why my list of PINs, Passwords, Access Codes and the like which enables me to run my life is five pages long. It's time we each have a universal unbreakable PIN that works for everything.

What a monumental waste of time and money! Any smart inside trader who is worth his salt will shun company owned mobile and fixed line communications. And "reasonable steps" to ensure that business calls are not made on personal mobiles is so much pie in the sky.

Don't kid yourself. There are a lot of Internet savvy "oldies" around and there will be even more by 2018. I know of several octogenarians who are pretty handy with a mouse and keyboard.

One really wonders how so many people could have been fooled for so long by such nonsense. At the bottom of this of course is greed, self interest and the genuine but childish hope that maybe this was all true.

I am not sure if I understand what the benefit of tracking a payment could be. Generally a payment should be completed within two days of its origination. I still have a problem with this two day gap, but that is another story. I certainly can see the benefit to the bank offering this as a value added service, but to the user? Sorry, I just can’t see it.

Ouch! Well, she only has herself to blame.

It's not so much the loss of the data but rather the manner of the loss that is important. It's this blind assumption that if you put something in the post it will simply get there (which is true most of the time). The problem is that people simply don't think in terms of risk or potential problems. At issue is the correct procedures (which there appear to be) and an understanding by the relevant staff of the need for and the use of these procedures. The key is training, training, training! And this is not easy when you are dealing with staff that doesn't see "risk" as a part of their function.

Politicians and market forces do not mix. In the end government, whether national or the European Commission, cannot dictate how markets work, be they for financial or tangible products. One just shudders at the wasted costs of the SEPA endeavour.

The issue of client usable data linked to bank transfers has been a problem for decades. Initially it was a problem of space in severely restricted data files and this was perpetuated by the astounding longevity of many of the legacy systems that the older banks developed in the 1960s and 1970s. Surprisingly, many of these systems are still functional today. Of course many banks have missed out over the years on a fantastic marketing opportunity, by actually giving their clients what they really need (and being able to charge for the value added service along the way).