“Payments giant Stripe is launching a new bank transfer proposition in the UK and other markets, which it says will erase  “the operational pain of receiving and manually reconciling transfers” for businesses. Bank transfers, which have been in existence since 1871 when Western Union added money transfers to its telegram service, are still one of the most common ways to send money today. According to Stripe, in Europe more than $4trillion in bank transfers is processed each year. But the current process, says Stripe, is filled with “friction”- pointing to businesses losing hundreds of hours on confirming transfers, reconciliation and accounting, and refunds.  StrIpe’s new offering, already launched in Japan, is now being rolled out in the  UK, EU and Mexico. Fundamentally, it automates all reconciliation and says it creates a simplified refund process.”