It's not choked with government regulation - it's not being forced by government to improve. Do you know how EU got from the exact same mess to where it's payment services are now?
What the EU did a number of years ago was to issue a directive (approx. a federal law in US terms) about consumer payment services which essentially said "consumers have the right to have their payments be credited to the beneficiary within 1 business day. If it doesn't happen, consumers have the right to demand compensation from their bank for each such transaction. Banks have a transition period of 5 years to make it happen."
The US ACH systems are slow and expensive because the banking industry benefits them from being that way, and there are currently no powerful incentives to improve.
What the EU did a number of years ago was to issue a directive (approx. a federal law in US terms) about consumer payment services which essentially said "consumers have the right to have their payments be credited to the beneficiary within 1 business day. If it doesn't happen, consumers have the right to demand compensation from their bank for each such transaction. Banks have a transition period of 5 years to make it happen."
The US ACH systems are slow and expensive because the banking industry benefits them from being that way, and there are currently no powerful incentives to improve.