ACH in the EU is generally same day. The US is super behind the times in that regard.

The reason that it’s next day is that for most banks, the process of doing an ACH transfer is to effectively SFTP a file with the amount to transfer and account details to the receiving bank, and they batch process them nightly.

Also, with this system, there is no difference between a direct deposit and direct withdrawal. One just has a negative transfer balance. So once you approve someone such as your employer to direct deposit they can also withdraw from your account with no warning.

It pains me that a system so shitty powers the world financial market... that’s what you get from monopolies.