The European Union has adopted legislation requiring all banks to support instant interbank payments in euros.
This step, approved by the European Parliament, aims to simplify and speed up the payment process between banks within the EU. Instant payments, which enable transactions to be executed almost in real time, are defined as the crediting of a payment to the payee’s account within ten seconds of its initiation. These payments are available 24 hours a day, every day, but there is a limit on the maximum amount that can be paid.
In Slovakia, instant payments were introduced in February 2022 by three major banks – Slovenská sporiteľňa, VÚB and Tatra banka, with Raiffeisen banka joining them later. To date, only J&T Banka has joined the instant payment system. Instant payments are also supported by Revolut, a platform that is widely used by Slovaks, mainly for its benefits abroad.
Under the new EU legislation, banks may not charge more for instant payments than the standard fee for payments in euros. This regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Banks in eurozone countries will have to start accepting instant payments within nine months of this date, while the option to send them will be mandatory within 18 months.
This means that most banks should implement these services before the end of 2024 or by September of the following year at the latest. Longer deadlines are set for banks in EU Member States that do not use the euro as their currency: receiving instant payments in euros will be mandatory within 33 months and sending them within 39 months of the publication of the legislation. This step marks a major shift in the EU banking sector, promising to make payments across the single market much faster and more efficient.