If Africa can cut out banks, why can't we?

Why isn't there a Pirate Bay for banks, where people can send money to each other without having to wait days for it to arrive? One of the continuing mysteries of the web revolution is why the equivalent of an eBay or Amazon hasn't emerged in the banking sector, where vast profits accrue - or used to accrue - to the middlemen. It is a rite of passage for younger people to swap music files, but never money, despite some interesting experiments, such as zopa.com, where borrowers can get money from lenders without banks being involved.

If you want to see pioneering experiments in banking you will have to go to a surprising place - Africa. And the question is, why can't we do the same here? If the Post Office is looking for a new role, it need look no farther. In Kenya, customers of M-Pesa can send money to each other from around the country in 14 seconds flat using their mobiles. In the UK it takes three days, thereby endowing the banks with a huge float of money in transit on which they can earn interest. In Kenya, people leave their money at a trusted outlet such as a shop or pharmacy, where it is loaded into their sim cards.

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