Banks and other financial institutions provide a payment system to enable cash and cashless payments between economic subjects, individuals or entities within one country and/or related to foreign countries.

All payments can be made either in cash using banknotes and/or coins or cashless as a bank transfer.

Paying in cash means using a currency (notes and coins) or using bank and financial institution services. The payments there can be carried out by cheques, postal money orders or you can just credit or debit your bank account and get a cash deposit receipt or cash withdrawal receipt.

Cashless payments are mostly realised as bank transfers between accounts. The payment can be settled on the basis of

• single payment order - a customer instructs the bank to pay an amount of money to a beneficiary at the bank counter (personally) or through phone banking, GSM banking, internet banking or home banking;
• standing order – a customer instructs the bank to pay a set amount of money to a named beneficiary at regular time intervals;

• bank direct debit – a customer authorises money recipient / beneficiary to claim payments from their account and at the same time instructs the bank to allow the payment to be taken.

Payment cards represent a special form of payments as they can be used for cash transactions (ATM withdrawal) and/or cashless payments (bank transfer). There are various types of cards:

• credit cards which allow the holder to spend money and pay back later; it is a form of loan which is subject to interest;
• debit cards issued mostly against current accounts; the holder can spend the amount of money available on the account; in case of sound balance the holder is granted an overdraft;
• pre-paid cards are usually limited to a specific merchant,e.g. telecommunication company;
• smart cards contain various data and enable a wide range of operations in banking, healthcare, entertainment, and transportation.