In October 2022, the European Commission published a proposal on instant credit transfers in euro. In practice, the proposal will mean that money being transferred from one account to another should be received by the recipient within a matter of seconds at any time of day, any day of the year. The Commission argues that this will bring numerous benefits to consumers and businesses, and will promote innovation in financial services.
But, it will also come with several challenges for payment service providers, particularly in the short term. In the long run, however, the benefits linked to innovation, user experience and cost reduction should outweigh the costs of implementing instant payments.
