4 ms·

> considering what I now know about how it is put together As someone who doesn't, I'd love to hear more.

• londons_explore 4y ago
  Lots of CSV files of transactions sent between banks by sftp servers and processed by big COBOL mainframes. Any part of this process that is modernized still has to emulate the old...
  • Dave3of5 4y ago
    Ah yes the old BAI format which is totally not a CSV file with a bunch of insane rules that differ per bank and are passed around via sftp server that are on the internet. I'm glad I quit that job. The only problem is when I tell people how the bank actually move money they don't believe me.
  • lisper 4y ago
    Yep, a shocking amount of ad-hoc processes and standards held over from the 70s and earlier. Also, most surprising to me, very few people in the industry actually understand how it works. Most people have never met an actual banker. The people in your local bank branch are sales people and technicians. It is nearly impossible even to find someone who really knows what is going on under the hood, let alone get a meeting with them. And there is no documentation, no primer you can read to bring you up to speed the way you can learn about emacs or Javascript. It's all a good-old-boy network, and even finding an actual member of the club to talk to is nearly impossible.