In North America, given a bank account number, you can pull money from it (this is how cheques work over there). In Europe, given a bank account number, you ca

In North America, given a bank account number, you can pull money from it (this is how cheques work over there). In Europe, given a bank account number, you can put money into it (this is how "giros" work). This fundamental difference in banking system has caused endless pain for the US and its hyperlocal banking system. Canada overcame this by having a home grown debit card system expand into online payments.