The European Commission has proposed a law according to which banks will have to immediately carry out all transactions in euros – at no additional cost.
According to the Commission’s proposal, payments in the EU and the European Economic Area will be immediately deposited into the account, regardless of the time and day of the week and whether it is a business day or not.
Now you have to wait up to three days, especially if the payment is made at the end of the week, and you usually have to wait until Monday for the money to appear in your account.
“Going from a next-day payment to a 10-second payment is like going from regular mail to email,” said Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.
“Today, almost nine out of ten euro credit transfers are still processed as traditional ‘slow’ transfers. There is no reason why many citizens and companies in the EU cannot send and receive money immediately, the technology that enables instant payments has existed since 2017”, adds the commissioner.
In practice, the changes will mean:
All banks must offer instant payments to all their customers;
Instant payments will be offered at no additional cost than normal credit transfers;
Banks will have to check that the account number matches the name of the payee and warn the payer of any risk of fraud.
Currently, some banks charge much more for an instant payment transfer – up to €30 in some cases – than for traditional transfers.
The move comes amid wider EU financial reforms, including the long-awaited introduction of a digital euro.
The proposed bill, which needs approval from EU states and the European Parliament to become law, will give banks in the eurozone six months to launch the instant euro payments project.
Banks in the EU will be given 24 months to adapt to the new rules.