Bulking up

Imagine, if you can, that you are a German pensioner who has retired to the golden shores of Australia. Every month, the German government will send you your pension, which you can withdraw from a local bank in Australia. It probably does not cross your mind how this process actually happens. But until very recently, it was a process that was done manually: the Bundesbank created a magnetic file and then couriered it on a plane down to Australia, where the relevant bank processed the information and made the payments.