Giros are primarily used in Europe; although electronic payment systems exist in the United States (e.g., the Automated Clearing House), it is not possible to perform third-party transfers with them.
The giro system itself can be traced back to the "bancherii" in Northern Italy, especially on the Rialto (a financial centre, resembling the modern day Wall Street or the City of London).
The usage in German can be seen in the Banco del Giro founded in Vienna in 1703 (to extend the financing business that Samuel Oppenheimer had brought from Venice in 1670).
Postal giro or postgiro systems have a long history in European financial services.
The basic concept is that of a banking system not based on cheques, but rather by direct transfer between accounts.
The banks' main payment instrument was based on the cheque, which has a totally different remittance model from that of a giro.
In the United States, the rise of electronic cheque clearing (and debit cards as preferred instruments of payment) has made this difference less important than it once was.
In some stores in the United States, checks are scanned at the cash register and handed back to the customer.
Direct deposit systems such as those in common use in the United States, by contrast, require the recipient's explicit approval, typically provided by filling out a form.
However, the lack of credit also means the payer has no protection against dishonest payees, and transactions cannot be recalled or disputed.