Electronic Payment Systems, Electronic Money and the Internet: The United Kingdom Experience to Date

The level of Internet access in the UK is expanding rapidly. Although the volume of business being transacted using the Inter-net is currently insignificant in relation to the overall UK economy, there is a general expectation that it will grow exponentially over the next ten years. The future vision is of increasing volumes of business transacted on the Internet using electronic methods of payment and eventually electronic money in the form of electronic-cash. This article reviews some of these developments in the overall context of the UK payment system. 1 It considers the current structure and examines some of the broader issues of technological innovation that will need to be considered before this future vision becomes more of a reality.