The EU has approved new rules for instant bank transfers: what you need to know
16.05.2024
16.05.2024
The European Parliament has approved new rules that will ensure that bank transfers will arrive in an account within ten seconds, regardless of the day of the week or time of day. The rules will apply to retail customers and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Parliament provisionally approved the regulation in November to ensure safer transfers and significantly reduce waiting times for small customers and businesses.
Major changes to bank transfers in the EU
Regardless of the day or time, instant transfers should occur, and the recipient’s account should receive the money within ten seconds. Within ten seconds, the payer must also receive notification that the recipient has received the funds.
Member states of the European Union whose currency is not the euro, but which still offer regular transactions in euros, will be exempt from the requirement to make payments within ten seconds outside of business hours.
What about security measures
It will also be necessary to take appropriate measures to prevent fraud. To do this, payment service providers (PPS) must verify the identity of the payee at no additional cost.
Under the new rules, if PPS fails to take precautions and suffers financial loss, the client can claim compensation. In addition, payment service providers must now check if their customers are subject to sanctions or other restrictive measures related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
“The Instant Payments Regulation represents a welcome modernization of payments in the European Single Market. Customers can now say goodbye to the inconvenience of waiting two or three working days to access their money,” said MEP Michiel Hoogeveen.
“We’re bringing something that matters to people and businesses—transferring money in 10 seconds, any time of the day,” he added.
How will the bank payment system in the Czech Republic change?
EU member states will have 12 months to adapt to the new rules. Most banks are members of the Czech Republic’s CETRIS banking system, except UniCredit Bank. Participants in this system are required to accept instant payments, but they are not required to provide the service of sending instant payments to their customers. After processing the instant payment, CETRIS immediately credits it to the recipient’s account.
The Czech bank Home Credit (PPF Group) has already announced that it has started using instant payments. The client’s account now receives instant credit for approved loan amounts. However, it is important that the bank where the client has a current account can accept instant payments.
The main advantages of instant payments
1. Even at night, on weekends, or on holidays, the bank can transfer money to the client’s account in a matter of seconds.
2. You won’t have to wait long to learn that your account has already received the money.
3. The client can use the money immediately.
In the first 14 days of launch, Home Credit completed 38,000 of its 45,000 payments using instant payments. This indicates that the new instant payment method accounted for more than 84% of all payments. So far, the system has worked very well, and employees have not encountered any serious complications.
Fio Banka in the Czech Republic also began accepting quick payments in euros in the beginning of May of this year. The bank does not charge a fee for sending and receiving money transactions in euros. Customers can receive these transfers through mobile and online banking.
Significant additions to instant bank payments in the Czech Republic
Instant payments are only available at banks that support this type of payment method. This rule applies to transactions conducted both domestically and throughout Europe.
| As an instant payment, you can only send up to €4,000. The overall daily limit for each client is 16,000 euros. The instant payment system operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. |
You can look for information about payments in euros (including prices) on the websites of Fio Banka, Oberbank, and J&T Banka.
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