Tomorrow's World: New Banking 09 December 1969 - BBC

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Computerised banking ushers in a cashless economy.
Derek Cooper reports on developments in computers that could revolutionise banking. Computerised credit card machines will be able to transfer funds directly from the customer's account to that of the shop, while computerised banks will see a reduction in queues and less of a need to be tied to branch opening times. However, these developments could also result in job losses as computers take over mundane tasks.
#bbc
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[@garethnicol52]

"Secret code" **Camera zooms in on guy entering the code**

[@PassiveSmoking]

One, One, One... um, One!

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@PassiveSmoking Never mind. No-one could ever guess that my only online password is PASSWORD.

[@AndrewRoberts11]

The POS was Barclay's bank branded. A quick Google suggests the mainframe was a Burroughs’ B8500, purchased for £11.5m, in 1967, and housed in Barclays' then new, 51,000 sq ft. data centre, located in a former motorbike warehouse, on the Harrow Road, Willesden, London. Also appears the project ended up being delayed by 2+ years, due to technical issues, decimalisation, and the typical Project Management excuses, with the first cards being issued mid 1971. With the £16m project being scrapped, and replaced with an IBM solution, after 1974.

[@reinplat]

"Hello, I'd like to make a 100-pound withdrawal from my account." "I'm sorry I can't do that, Dave.

[@falaicha]

reinplat lol even though it may be reply out of context, I remembered something that happened to me due to ATM refusing to give me cash..and I hope u will enjoy hearing about it.. It was the very early days of cardless cash system where I lived. If you dont know by anychance what cardless cash system is..basically its a smartphone app which let me withdraw money from my account..the number it generates and security code it texts combined allowed to enter those number in ATM and I get the cash out of ATM that I nominated without ATM card... So it was the end of year season of 2015. Basically a festive season. I had went through peak of heroin addiction and was gradually trying to cut it off my life and was determined to clean myself up by next year then, which I kind a feel lil proud saying I did even though I cant say for sure I am as happy as I expected then I would be. But I know its just the reminiscence of the past haunting me and each day they are fading lil lighter.. Anyway enough with background, the story was, I had my appointment with my heroin dealer. I used to buy at very minimum $150 worth at once in morning and sane at eve. So it was morning, I was already hanging out and I had called my dealer and he was waiting and said he can only wait 10 more mins else he will go and come back in couple of hours. In rush I forgot my ATM card at home so I did(not for first time) card less cash.. damn thing refused to give me money.. I panicked looked at clock had got 6 mins left and i called dealer to give me 5 more mins and called staff in bank within. Staff, an asian guy came out.. I said my money is stuck and now I am gonna loose my very important job interview if I dont get on the train in 5 mins..He said wait and start calling tech support. I was checking my phone for each second passed.. As I get called from dealer again I pleaded him to wait for 5-7mins more as he was my regular he said 10m and i am gone. Now i have had over with him and I said look if I lost my job interview due to your machine failing you shall be responsible. He said me to wait for a minute and came back with 150 cash and apologized for inconvenience. I wasnt happy but atleast now I could run, then dealer called again and said relax and take 5 more mins I am going to grab a coffee. Then for some reason I checked my bank app again and I saw that machine had actually returned my money to my account. I tried cash less card with another machine round the cornor and I got another 150. I got 2 dose in morning that day and in after noon I went for long awaited suboxone program appointment to clinic and after few months then after.. I finally got off from damn heroin's fake happiness.. But that day's computer glitch I saw as chance to enjoy twice as much today but make it last.

[@askhowiknow5527]

reinplat £100 was a lot back then...

[@typower9]

I was going to write a similar comment, but although I remembered Hal's and the name of the film, but I couldn't remember Dave's name. Thanks for writing it for me😊

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@falaicha Lou Reed's 'Waiting for the Man' is much more entertaining.

[@dronebee83]

2:28 Shopkeeper: "I'm sorry sir I can't accept payment by cheque in this boutique" Customer: "Oh what a pity, I'm afraid I'm unable to purchase this bottle of wine. Never mind. Good day to you, shopkeeper" (Customer hurls brick through window. Shopkeeper maintains neutral expression, for this is a common response from mildly disappointed men prevented from buying wine)

[@freeman10000]

LOL

[@rogermolineux9741]

Customer: " I've had a smashing time, anyway"!

[@louiseogden1296]

I love the gentle 'thank you' response. It truly was a different age.

[@quatz1981]

The future isnt cool anymore because we are living in it

[@Colaglass]

Well, compared to the 60s, sure. However, lots of advancements are rapidly forming, and I find it kind of amazing to know that the future is an ongoing thing and not a fixed point in time :D

[@freeman10000]

What is cool nowadays is cash, bartering and vinyl

[@d.g.rohrig4063]

I still don’t have a Jetsons flying car damn it!

[@gregwilliams6828]

Why can't modern day chip and pin machines say "Thank You" in a sexy voice???

[@Venx84]

because then people will sue the machines for sexual harassment.

[@yaosio]

Typical conservative crying they can't assault people.

[@Needler13]

All this people complaining about sexual harassment laws or about the rape culture not realizing we do have that sexy voice. It's called Siri or Cortana or Alexa.

[@bluethunder6801]

Because these days they would try to f*** it lol

[@unnamedchannel1237]

Do the person in the next queue a favour and whisper that in their ear when. They are done paying

[@nativenewlondoner]

It's just laughable. Next they'll be telling us to expect a telephone that can be carried around in the pocket, or even TV in colour.

[@Venx84]

im waiting for them to predict that telephones will let us type messages to our love ones while driving a car. I could just see the amount of accidents caused if they do ever make a telephone that can do that.

[@therealchayd]

A colour television receiver? I don't see that catching on any time soon.

[@adorabasilwinterpock6035]

Colour tv had been around for a long time in 1969

[@markorollo.]

If they start telling us we'll get vehicles that can drive themselves, like a pod thing, I'm just gonna stop watching.

[@adorabasilwinterpock6035]

referral madness since the early 50’s

[@duncanhine898]

I'll show this to my uncle to show him the future of banking. He still queues at the bank to get cash out.

[@ultort]

Interesting, today I may go to my bank only once or twice a year.

[@nandanm3826]

Great and good information. Thank you for sharing.🙏

[@twphanley]

This is astonishingly prophetic. Some of the predictions made by tomorrows world are ludicrous these days, but this literally predicts the debit card.

[@mydevices5503]

It doesn't predict the debit card. It IS the debit card.

[@ButcherBird-FW190D]

@@mydevices5503 I agree, it IS the debit card. First time I ever really used a stored value card was my freshman year at UofW in Seattle (Fall 1982). It was a good system re: for purchasing items on campus. They also had an ATM, which was amazing as well. Ten years later; it really started in re: POS terminals everywhere (this was in Phx AZ in the early 1990's, at least for that area. By the mid-90's, pretty much everywhere...

[@ADeeSHUPA]

@@ButcherBird-FW190D نَيس ܢ݁ܝ̤ܣ

[@GeertDelmulle]

Not adding in a mail ‘computer’ voice saying “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave”, was a missed opportunity.

[@monkeysweeperguitar]

I LOVE these BBC Tomorrow’s World pieces. They’re absolutely fascinating!

[@fuzzface100]

the scene from 2:05 is like something from Monty Python Lol

[@yaosio]

Who would have thought that banks would have invented the overdraft fee, a mere 10 billion dollars for the right to be told you don't have enough money in your account.

[@chrisgavin]

I love the opening shot of this. Someone built an actual 3D model of the new computer system.

[@marcusdamberger]

When your paying a few million back in 1969 for a complete mainframe computer system for your entire banking system, you better get a model of what it's going to look like! The model maker probably was only paid no more than 1000 (that's probably too generous, more like 500) for their work back in 1969, and that would have been a lucrative gig to get.

[@dangerousdingo8846]

Thank you.... THANK YOU. THANK...YOU!!!

[@lordme88]

I cant wait untill the future of yesterday!

[@Mr_Penguins_Pet_Human]

Spookily accurate! And now we are at another junction where even the more complex jobs are to go to computers via AI.

[@simongill184]

And AI jobs are now being done by computers too

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@simongill184 AI needs trade unions...

[@davidhawk9678]

"I would like this bottle of wine please" "Computer says no!"

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

The thank yous at the end are disturbing!

[@professormcclaine5738]

Pushing cashless back in the day. "Sorry sir we've closed your account"

[@roggerfrogger2]

The accuracy of this is amazing! What will happen to all the clerks? Well what did happen to them....

[@OneofInfinity.]

They got fired.

[@utubeozpat]

They moved to the more secure jobs of supermarket checkouts.

[@roachtoasties]

The became KZbin "social influencers."

[@marcusdamberger]

@@utubeozpat They are even eliminating those positions with all the self checkouts now. Walmart now has more self checkouts than regular staffed checkout lanes. Plus, my local small grocery store has more self checkout kiosks, installed in the last year or so, where they were a holdout of staffed checkout lanes.

[@utubeozpat]

@@marcusdamberger Understand what you are saying but my comments were tongue-in-cheek. In this fast moving world no jobs are secure.

[@freeman10000]

What an amazing world we live in 🤘

[@auro1986]

this made it possible for anyone to look into your bank details

[@jonnydwolf]

Love how they said it will make cash redundant and eliminate the need for all that security stuff. LOL. Yeah right.

[@JustasSireika]

It really depends on where you live. I don’t use cash at all.

[@jonnydwolf]

@@JustasSireika I’m talking about all the security wrapped around wireless and online transactions. Even with all that, hackers with nefarious intentions still will cause harm.

[@rickharriss]

50 years on and cash still isn't redundant!.

[@berkshirekatie8069]

haha we're stil having this convocation lol

[@danbarnes6751]

OOh how the touch and go card has us chained to the overdraft.

[@yorumcuturk]

She is counting £1 notes. This is approval of how economy was better than now in England.

[@Kalecimus]

Online banking at it's very early stage!

[@ewaf88]

Not really because apart from a few scientists and universities in the States - nobody was online

[@yellowbelly06]

And yet it would be a further 18 years before the first debit card was introduced in the U.K., Barclays Connect in 1987. Incidentally the bank whose computer system is covered in this story is Barclays.

[@typower9]

Can you just imagine how the 1000s of bank clerks and accountants felt when they watched this!

[@PaulRubino]

The cycle of replacing mundane and repetitive human tasks with automation has been going on for all of history. Progress has always been a balancing act between improving a product people want, versus the jobs lost to the new technology.

[@xaverlustig3581]

They are talking about the risk of bounced cheques. This problem was partly solved by cheques guaranteed by the bank, such as the eurocheque system that came into effect in the same year (and has been deceased since Dec 2001). Also they talk about the risk with credit cards. Ironically, it would be credit and debit cards who would later be the key for electronic banking.

[@WillyAndreBergstrom]

Well, this system was an imagining of the debit cards. They just did away with the clunky hardware, reducing it to a single device with it's own dedicated connection.

[@marcparella]

In the future you'll pay for your coffee with a phone.

[@tuiyanimrod5146]

We have done it for the past 11 years in kenya.

[@typower9]

And if your phone is stolen/damaged/lost/ out of battery, or some technical fault happens, like the screen freezing.....you're stuffed. And if you don't have cash on you as a back-up, you're extra stuffed!

[@thesmallnotesduo]

Ah, yes, a cashless system is the best thing to keep us all free.

[@MarpleSteve]

You and I saw this very differently than most making nostalgic comments!

[@thesmallnotesduo]

@@MarpleSteve Sad but true my friend - they have no idea where this will take us. Please keep helping them try to see how bad this idea is. If we stay strong we can stay free

[@MarpleSteve]

@@thesmallnotesduo I agree. When you see it it’s your mission. Truth wins eventually

[@thesmallnotesduo]

@@MarpleSteve It will my friend.

[@typower9]

I hope everyone reading your comment realise you mean it ironically. Some countries don't understand irony.

[@locouk]

I can't see these computer things catching on, what if there's a power cut?

[@betta67]

Those computers had also huge air conditioning and also their own power generators in case of power service failure.

[@jacketrussell]

It'll never catch on!

[@SqueakyGoose]

I find its strange, we are still saying the same thing, but we are now nearly 50 years on. Nothing has changed.

[@malcolmclements9254]

How true this is it's now becoming fact.

[@davidkelly3751]

Knowing banks, the original code is probably still there.

[@RayJorg]

Which is actually a good thing for a number of reasons.

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@RayJorg And not so good for other reasons.

[@tinytonymaloney7832]

There's probably more computer power in a 2020 mobile phone than what that old system had. Trouble is it doesn't seem to have speeded anything up much, you still can't get hold of anybody or get anything done any quicker.

[@anonUK]

Before decimalisation was complete, we already had the tech for chip (well, magnetic strip) and PIN purchases. Why wasn't this in common use by the 90's?

[@smadaf]

It was.

[@happysnapper999a]

be careful what you wish for, you may just get it

[@mkay6089]

In 1969 they could take money out of a persons account and into the account of the shop in a matter of seconds... So why is 2020 does it take 4 days for the bank to process and deposit money from my Insurance company into MY account... Me thinks they are making money ( interest) whilst holding my money for a few days .... me thinks.

[@jourwalis-8875]

The female voice saying "Thank you" is really scary. Reminds me of HAL in 2001.....

[@typower9]

The voice is unrealistically pleasant and friendly-sounding, but hey, they are trying to "sell' the innovation to you....

[@typower9]

The last image of the deserted computer room with the voice repeating, as if the computer had a fault or a fake fault, and the voice was more robotic, really was reminiscent of the Hal scene in the film '2001-A Space Odyssey' and rather chilling.

[@blower1]

Someone show TSB bank this!

[@Ian-se5qe]

What would they think about contactless payments and paying using a 'mobile phone'? I wonder what kids watching videos regarding these new payment methods would think in maybe 20 or 30 years?

[@jjwebster1]

how long did it take to get into shops? 20 years?

[@ButcherBird-FW190D]

Started really hitting into stores in the early to mid-1990's. I saw the first "Real Life" applications in the early-1980's, but as to becoming a standard, your 20-year estimate is about right.

[@petebestsstringvest366]

Unidentified item in the bagging area

[@1990chrism]

@gareebee They probably didn't think the home computer and the Internet would be capable of allowing that to happen.

[@paulus12345]

On line banking??? Next they will be telling us spaghetti grows on trees!!!

[@liverush24]

Ah, banking, back when I was a fetus. I remember it well.

[@2010MConnolly]

Still better than the Bank Of Irelands current system.

[@ewaf88]

@1:17 The computer voice sounds slightly condescending - probably because it had the ability to look ahead 50 years

[@astrecks]

I used to bank with Barclays, condescending voices encouraged me to swap banks.

[@DagneZand]

Why did it get so Kubrick at the end

[@Osamabahudila]

عقل الانسان ليس له حدود. المخترع د-اسامه باهديله

[@Matty112uk]

Electronic money transfers, Debit/Credit Cards, modern telephones, the Internet and KZbin. Nah, it'll never catch on all that lol.

[@thesystemera]

Wow! So accurate and here we go again with AI

[@MePeterNicholls]

2022 and they’re still using the same systems

[@TheManLab7]

The very first chip and pin.

[@imransyah]

Ancient EDC machine

[@squarecircle5522]

Why is that woman's head attached to the roof by a string at 3:11 !!!???

[@JasmineSurrealVideos]

Omg I noticed that as well, like she was some sort of marionette lol

[@wisteela]

Brilliant bit of history. I'm sure that computer at the start is actually a model.

[@harleyd9180]

I wonder what the presenter would have said if knew that his predictions would take another fifty years to be fully realized? If anything Banks should be another fifty years ahead by now instead of still clearing cheques and keeping your money over weekends.

[@portlyoldman]

What’s a cheque? I heard my grandparents talk about them…

[@harleyd9180]

@@portlyoldman oh don’t worry, banks still clear each other’s debts at the end of each trading day in a back room with no windows 😆

[@portlyoldman]

@@harleyd9180 🤣🤣

[@chrisgoodwin3617]

Well done, spot on with this one. I haven't used cash for 5 years.

[@ilikefishish]

i'm sure he was using my pin code!

[@kernals12]

i can't believe how much space those computers took up, anybody watching this, the computer you are using holds more memory than that computer,

[@5implesimon]

3.09 y is a piece of string operating her?

[@Twornpoobar]

02:18 I'm 100% sure his moustache is real

[@roachtoasties]

That was one, cool, liquor store owner at 2:05 . The customer didn't have enough money for his favorite libation, and in true British fashion, he stands there calmly as the customer leaves and smashes a few brewskis on the way out. In the next scene, the same customer is at the bank, probably in line to get money for his booze. The liquor store owner will probably welcome him back and fully understand when the customer tells him he slipped and didn't mean to smash those dozen bottles. I live in Los Angeles and that's not the way it will go down here. A wrestling match will ensue on the sidewalk afterward, with the rest of the liquor store inventory smashed. The police will come, hog-tie everyone, throw them all in their cop cars and haul them away. Local TV news helicopters will be over the scene, so that everyone in the city can enjoy the action. Everyone will get out of jail in no time, to continue the brawl the next day. ;)

[@louiseogden1296]

You rock.

[@roachtoasties]

@@louiseogden1296 :)

[@roachtoasties]

@@anonUK :)

[@TheBigDickBall]

I just love watching our more primitive state of technology and how it has progressed over the years. I laughed at my parents are technology and my kids will laugh at mine in the future.

[@haweater1555]

The on-line retail terminal banking was state-of-the-art in 1969. However the money itself is still the old archaic pounds/shillings/pence non-decimal system. Some goods were still advertised in "guineas" as well.

[@jourwalis-8875]

The future is already here.....

[@3D_Printing]

right to repair stopped

[@HoneyChonker]

Now i wave my watch or phone, secured with an ultrasonic fingerprint reader under the glass to pay for things

[@typower9]

So...If you damage your fingers, you're stuffed. Or your watch and phone are stolen/damaged/ lost, you're also stuffed. I can think of another scenario but it's not very pleasant and you might be able to guess what it is so I won't spell it out. Actually I can think of at least another scenario. And if you don't have cash on you as a back-up, you're even more stuffed.......

[@HoneyChonker]

The same logic can be applied to losing your wallet that has cash in it or having it stolen. If my finger is damaged I unlock the phone with my pin. If my phone is stolen I use my watch, if my watch is somehow stolen off my wrist then I would use my contact less debit card.

[@trevorgreen8540]

Happening

[@ECTBWHO]

: )

[@NotMe35971]

So why on Earth we still have paper (physical) money? Government constantly cry about tax evasion, but keep physical money, which is impossible to track.

[@spritemon98]

This feels harder then using a simple phone

[@importantjohn]

52 years later and we are almost completely cashless. Interesting concern about loss of jobs. It never happened, banks probably increased their employment levels several fold.

[@yasirsaheed]

I'm pretty sure that a $150 smartphone today is 10x more powerful than that huge computer

[@TekkitPoju]

Alot more powerful than only 10x

[@maxinlux6570]

We-ell, they weren't wrong, but... So much has happened in the intervening years which they just couldn't have anticipated. This came out 18 months-ish after I was born, today I work in a bank in Luxembourg, interesting look-back.

[@deztructo123]

My wrist watch has more computing capacity then every computer in the world combined back then.

[@jackthelad612]

What's a bank?

[@clavichord]

Computer banking will never catch on

[@marcse7en]

Such an UNORIGINAL comment!!!! 👎

[@clavichord]

@@marcse7en Why, thank you! 😆

[@kevinhoward9593]

:08 my computer has a hundred thousand times more storage capacity then that entire room. 50yrs later and we still use both debit cards and cash so I guess it didn't eliminate paper money after all. Only old people over 50 carry their checkbooks around. hell I don't even remember the last time I wrote an actual check. Probably 10 years or so ago. I opened my account with my Bank online. I think I go there once a year if that.

[@anonUK]

Most places don't take cheques anymore- and even cash is on the way out.

[@hoofie2002]

I haven't had cash in my wallet for well over two months - thanks to COVID - here in Australia cash was already dissapearing but it's accelerated.

[@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206]

I am STILL waiting for my "Hover car" that drives itself.

[@Dr_Manhattan]

please please bring back tomorrows world, and bring it to canada!!!

[@marcse7en]

Why don't YOU bring CANADA into TOMORROW'S WORLD? 😂😂😂

[@YujiUedaFan]

£1 notes?! :O

[@rawlinsonboy]

The £1 coin wasn't in introduced until 1983, before that it was £1 notes

[@marcse7en]

Yes, they WERE A THING you know!!!

[@anonUK]

Notes for 50p were still valid until the following year.

[@brucemcdonald8529]

What next???

[@MarpleSteve]

CBDC conditioning

[@GierlangBhaktiPutra]

They talk about jobs that were going to be replaced by machines. But now we discover new types of jobs as well. I guess we don't have to be afraid that machine is going to fill our job. Yes machine will replace the boring kind of task, but soon enough we will discover new types of job as well for the human.

[@PC-lu3zf]

This was end of one of the most interesting decades of 20th century. Decade of JFK civil rights Vietnam war and building of Berlin Wall.

[@jefftucker201]

Can't see this catching on..... tee hee....

[@ManInTheBigHat]

"The system could eventually make cash entirely redundant." That's the revelation that should have stopped the whole process right in its tracks.

[@rmirmi8377]

chip and pin been with us a lot longer then you think

[@j4wn]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! CREEPY!