A typical payment/financial transaction has two parts, authorization and settlement. In a wire transfer authorization and settlement happen in real-time (they a

A typical payment/financial transaction has two parts, authorization and settlement. In a wire transfer authorization and settlement happen in real-time (they are known as RTGS = real-time gross settlement) i.e. the money is transferred in a single instruction in real-time and once this transaction is complete there is generally no recourse for roll-back. Hence wire-transfers involve high authentication barriers (typically faxing a request with signature or going to a branch) and cost a lot (typically $25 to $50 for outbound transfers) and hence are unsuitable for ecommerce In our system the authorization portion of the financial transaction happens in real-time but settlement happens in batch (using settlement networks like Check21 or ACH). This makes it feasible for Internet based transactions i.e. ecommerce since authentication can be a simple click on a web page as well as retains the cost structure very low i.e. not just cheaper than wire transfers but also lower cost than Credit Cards.