Instant payments across the European Union will soon be much easier. The European institutions reached an agreement on Tuesday night for all banks to offer clients this type of services in the Twenty-seven.
Although the instant payment system is widespread in countries like Spain, through the Bizum tool, this is not the case in all states or in all banks. Now, banking entities will be obliged to offer instant payments, throughout the European Union and also between different countries, under a provisional agreement, which has yet to be ratified.
The goal is to make it possible for all consumers to send money in a maximum of ten seconds. An instant credit transfer must be executed regardless of the day or time and processed immediately. The payer must also be informed within 10 seconds whether the transferred funds have been made available to the beneficiary.
"Its objective is to improve the availability of immediate payment options in euros in EU countries and the European Economic Area," said the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU in a message on X (Twitter). The European Economic Area includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
A year ago the Executive presented the proposal to make this type of services mandatory in all countries, given that until now it was voluntary and had not had the expected scope. According to Commission data, a third of banks operating in the EU still lack instant payment systems and these types of services barely represented 11% of all transfers at community level at the end of 2021.
The institutions agreed that if banks apply charges for instant payment, it cannot be a higher commission than that of a normal transfer. With this initiative, customers "will enjoy more fluid payment options and companies will face lower costs, and EU payment systems as a whole will be more competitive," highlighted Parliament's negotiator, Dutch MEP Michiel Hoogeveen.
The agreement has to be approved by the plenary session of the European Parliament and by the Council (the countries) before it can enter into force.
