Alistair Kydd Hanton (1926 – 2021) was a British banker, transport campaigner and social entrepreneur who invented the

direct debit A direct debit or direct withdrawal is a financial transaction in which one organisation withdraws funds from a payer's bank account., https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/what-is-direct-debit/ Formally, the organisation that calls f ...

system in 1964. Hanton was awarded an OBE in the

1986 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1986 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

on his retirement as deputy managing director of

National Girobank National Girobank was a British public sector financial institution run by the General Post Office that opened for business in October 1968. It started life as ''National Giro'' then ''National Girobank'' and finally ''Girobank plc'' be ...

Biography

Early life

Hanton was born in north London on 10 October 1926. His father, Peter Kydd Hanton, worked as an architect for the Ministry of Works. His mother, Maud (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Evans) was a secretary.

Education

Following schooling at

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History A committee of Nonconformist me ...

, including a period evacuated to St Bees in Cumberland during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hanton went to

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

to study maths and economics.

Career

After graduating, a 22-year-old Hanton joined the newly-founded government overseas aid organisation, the Colonial Development Corporation in 1948, and after two years at head office in London was posted to

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

to plan public works. In 1957 Hanton took a job at the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation (ICFC, now 3i) which provided financial support for small firms. A year later, in 1958, Hanton joined the Economics and Statistics division of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

. Joining Rio Tinto-Zinc Corporation in 1964 he developed the use of the

discounted cash flow The discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis is a method in finance of valuing a security, project, company, or asset using the concepts of the time value of money. Discounted cash flow analysis is widely used in investment finance, real estate devel ...

technique, and contributed to the book ''The Finance and Analysis of Capital Projects''. Hanton left Rio Tinto after four years to help found the new National Giro in 1968, retiring from the organisation 18 years later in 1987.

Direct debit

Direct debit A direct debit or direct withdrawal is a financial transaction in which one organisation withdraws funds from a payer's bank account., https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/what-is-direct-debit/ Formally, the organisation that calls f ...

was invented by Alastair Hanton while he was working at

as a way of collecting payments more efficiently from Wall's ice cream sellers. Originally named ''automatic debit transfer'' it commenced operation, as a paper-based system, in 1964, becoming widely available from 1968.

National Giro

In 1982 Hanton was promoted from Operations Director to Deputy Managing Director. In 1985, Hanton initiated the LINK ATM network that allowed customers to withdraw money from ATMs of banks other than their own.

Charity and campaign work

Hanton was one of the founders of

The Fairtrade Foundation The Fairtrade Foundation is a charity based in the United Kingdom that aims to empower disadvantaged producers in developing countries by tackling injustice in conventional trade, in particular by promoting and licensing the Fairtrade Mark, a gu ...

. Hanton also founded the

Environmental Transport Association The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) is a British carbon-neutral provider of vehicle breakdown, bicycle and travel insurance for the environmentally concerned consumer. Unlike the AA or the RAC which are perceived as pro-car, the ETA ...

, was vice-chairman of

Christian Aid Christian Aid is the relief and development agency of 41 Christian (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) churches in the UK and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster ...

, chair of

Living Streets A living street is a street designed with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind by providing enriching and experiential spaces. Living streets also act as social spaces, allowing children to play and encouraging social interactions ...

and the

London Cycling Campaign The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is an independent membership charity lobbying for better conditions for cycling in London. Its vision is to make London "a world-class cycling city". It is one of the largest urban cycling organisations in th ...

Family

Hanton married Margaret Lumsden, a market researcher and Cambridge graduate in 1956. They had two sons, Angus and Bruce, and a daughter Fiona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanton, Alastair English bankers English inventors British charity and campaign group workers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Mill Hill School Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge People from London 1926 births 2021 deaths