Earlier this week, Spencer ordered goods online, and wished to pay in advance. After logging in to the online banking service and entering the required details regarding the payee and the amount to be transferred, the bank noted that his ‘request’ to transfer the money had been received. The sum was not a great one, about two hundred pounds.
Spencer was of the opinion that he had issued an instruction to transfer the money that is his property. The money is not property of the bank, he thinks, but is in the custody of the bank which uses its presence on their books as backing for loans from which it makes profit. The money however is his, and when he tells the bank to transfer some of it to a payee, this is not a request, but an instruction to dispose of some of his own property which the bank, for mutual convenience, happens to have in its possession.
The bank, it appears, thinks otherwise.
The bank did however complete the transfer of funds to the payee.