Abstract: An electronic funds transfer system comprising: at least one user account, each of which is associated with a user of the system; at least one partner organisation account, each of which is associated with a partner organisation of the system; a system administrator adapted to receive notification from said partner organisation of funds to be transferred to said user account; and a provider fund containing funds for financing transactions between said partner organisation and said user, wherein said system administrator, on receiving an electronic funds transfer notification from a partner organisation, is adapted to directly or indirectly facilitate transfer of an allocated fund notified by said partner organisation to an allocated user account in real time in anticipation of receipt of the allocated fund by said provider fund from a partner organisation funds manager after clearance of the allocated fund from said partner organisation funds manager.