What did Alastair Hanton invent in 1964 that changed forever the way many of us pay our bills?

He introduced the system of direct debit to the UK, pushing a cartel of traditional banks to adopt more flexible payment practices in the 1960s. At the National Girobank, the people's bank set up by the Labour government at the end of that decade, he was the driving force behind free bank accounts - giving millions of people the service for the first time.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/11/alastair-hanton-obituary

He invented the Direct Debit System, which revolutionised banking and led to ATMs and credit cards.