According to 1980 figures, wire transfers – instructions that funds be transferred from one person to another implemented through electronic means – account for the movement of $117 trillion each year. This vastly exceeds the amount transferred by check, $19 trillion, or by bank credit card, $49 billion. The average wire transfer is $2 million, as compared with the average check of $570 and the average bank card transaction of $38. Thus, while the number of wire transactions per year in the United States is quite small in relation to checks or bank credit cards, when something goes wrong on a wire transfer, a great deal more money is typically at stake.
Ironically, however, the payment system transferring the greatest value is governed by a poorly developed framework of legal rules…