More than £200m have been processed through a new faster payments service launched last week.

The free service, launched last week by APACS, the UK trade association for payments and related organisations, enables banks to process one-off payments made over the internet or by phone within a couple of hours.

It also applies to payments made outside of banking hours and standing order payments, which will now clear on the day they are sent if on a bank working day. Any payments not processed via the new system will continue to be made using the Bacs three-day service.

Between Tuesday 27 May (the day the service was launched) and Friday 30 May, 318,405 payments were processed via the new system to a value of £200,127,682.03 in total.

David McFarlane, CHAPS company manager, said: “Although we have deliberately staggered the volumes that could be pushed through the new Faster Payments Service, we are really delighted that so many customers have made use of this new payments system in its first few days of rollout. We hope that this has set us on course for more of the same and that by the end of the year we’ll see the vast majority of internet, phone and standing orders moving faster.

“Of course, until the service has been fully rolled out, any payments not using this new system will continue to be made over the existing three-day system. In the meantime if the timing and speed of any payment is important, it’s always best to double check what system your bank will use as well as following the instructions on the back of bills from any bill provider.”