The other day while making an online bank transfer an interesting thought struck me.

What happens to our money in between transferring it from one bank account to another??

Here's an example:

I have two accounts with two different banks and I transfer money online from my main bank account at bank A to a debit card account at bank B and then use the debit card to purchase online.
I logged on to my main account in bank A and transferred some money to my debit card at bank B.

There was an immediate withdrawal showing in my online balance in bank A.

Two days later the transfer showed up in my debit account at bank B!

So where did my money go for two days and who had it?

Bank A says they sent it straight away and bank B says that they didn't receive it until the day it showed up in my online balance (two days later). Now the strange part is that absolutely no-one at either bank can tell me where the money was for that two days.

How is it that we can send emails instantaneously and access anyone, anywhere on the internet instantaneously, we can check our bank balance instantaneously, buy things over the net instantly and pay bills instantly over the net and have our credit card verified and debited instantly, but we cannot transfer money between banks instantly!

Where is all of this money in between bank transfers???

If we take a hypothetical and conservative estimate that out of Australia's population of 21 million, let's say at any one time 10% of people are transferring money. In nice round figures let's say 2 million people are transferring $100 each.
That amounts to $200 million dollars that doesn't exist in any bank account for up to 2 days! (and that's a conservative estimate)

So who has these hundreds of millions of dollars (more likely billions), and where is it. This is not just a number in a computer, this money is real and can be held in your hand. It can't just cease to exist and then suddenly re-appear two days later.

And yet, if you ask your bank you will not be able to get an answer.

You can use your credit card to purchase anything from anywhere in the world IMMEDIATELY, but you CANNOT transfer money from the same account to another financial institution immediately.

WHY NOT???

Perhaps someone has the magic answer, because someone, somewhere is making an awful lot of money by using all the money involved in bank transfers...

Think about it ....