Banks and a lot of governments encourage online money transfers as well. In such cases there is no physical money changing hands. This helps the economy of a nation, as the government does not have to spend money on printing and maintaining currency notes. This type of money transfer is especially beneficial for long distance or international transfer of money across different countries. Companies such as Western Union, which have traditionally been in the money transfer business, also offer online money transfers.
Recently credit card companies such as Visa and MasterCard have also introduced online money transfer services which allow the quick transfer of money from one credit or debit card account to another.