Americans have been stuck with an antiquated system of bank transfers for decades. Checks, which Americans write more of than anyone else, still take days to clear even in this computerized era. Things have gotten a lot better thanks to automatic bill deposits and debit cards but still, a lot of money travels by way of check.
Other countries have for decades known of a much better system, giro. With giro, transfers are credited once they arrive at the receiving center, whereas with checks, it doesn't happen until they get mailed to a central location, sorted, and then sent to the bank of the receiver.
The interesting thing is that there is sort of a Giro system already, but it's only available for banks to use. In 1974, the Federal Reserve created the automated clearing house where bank settlements could be cleared at the end of the day. The question therefore becomes, how do we get the Fed to extend this service to everyone else?