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But they have been moved to make radical changes after criticisms in the Cruickshank report into banking services six years ago. That’s why King, who had run a dotcom operation after Reuters, was brought in.

“It was felt there was a lack of openness in the payments arena and the banks wanted to go on the front foot and avoid regulation. What we wanted to do was change BACS from a not-for-profit, back-office utility to a full-profit, commercially driven, ultimately independent company, with its own strategy and agenda in line with market conditions.”

And that, since she was appointed chief executive in 2002, is what King has done. Hence she has ditched the old name, rebranded the company, overhauled the infrastructure and is launching commercial joint ventures, allowing consumers to pay more bills online or by text message. She is determined, she says with a grin, to “put the sex into payments”.

Really? Well, she backtracks, it’s a line that goes down well in banking conferences — always wakes them up at the back. And she gives another laugh.

Switching fluently from serious to light is a key King trait. Others describe her as a shrewd man-manager and accomplished change agent. “She’s an inspirational leader,” says John Parcell, former chief executive of Reuters Information. “Very smart, very persuasive and very good at getting people to hit targets.”

Grigg says she puts a human face on the company. “But she is also bloody impatient. This company was a sleeping giant — she’s woken it up.”

King certainly puts a convincing case for Europe adopting Voca’s technology — the next big aim for her company. “The capacity of this system is phenomenal. It’s the most modern and scaleable platform in Europe without doubt.”

But would Europe, which plans to move towards a Single European Payments Area, want to use a British system? Especially one that originates from a country that hasn’t even signed up to the euro? She brushes it aside. “Politically, it’s a disadvantage, but technically it’s not at all. Banks look for quality and efficiency and that gives Voca a chance.”

As for national partisanship, Voca is owned by banks that are increasingly global entities. “One of our shareholders is Santander — after the acquisition of Abbey — and HSBC is as global as they get. Boundaries are breaking down.”

And ownership might change. King’s toughest task is probably herding the 12-strong group of banks that own Voca — nobody taking the lead, all holding defensive positions, not one providing a board member who sits at bank board-director level.

But if she wants the banks out, she shows no sign of pushing for it. Quite the reverse. She says she took the job because she had felt firsthand at Reuters what a consortium of banks can do when its power is properly harnessed.

()“They got fed up with Reuters’ trading systems and launched their own competitor — they took half of a £400m business away.”

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