Anyone who wants to send an amount of money to a recipient via bank transfer in a matter of seconds will be able to do so free of charge in the future. EU states and the European Parliament have agreed on this.
In the future, real-time transfers will also be possible for customers within the European banking system without any fees. The EU states and the European Parliament agreed on this in principle in Brussels.
Many banks still charge their customers fees for real-time transfers, which usually take no longer than ten seconds. In individual cases they can amount to several euros.
Ten seconds instead of three days
So far, euro transfers in the European payment area are usually possible without fees. However, the money transfer usually takes a day. However, they can take more than 72 hours due to weekends or public holidays.
According to the EU Commission, real-time transfers recently accounted for only eleven percent of all transfers in euros made in the EU. The proportion is likely to increase significantly in just a few seconds with a free transfer.
The technical requirement for fast transfers within the SEPA standard is that both institutions offer sending or receiving money transfers in this form. In Germany, this has primarily been offered by Unicredit Bank in recent years. Since 2020, many German banks have been offering at least real-time receipt.
The regulation still has to be approved by EU states
With the option of real-time transfers, private customers and companies no longer have to wait for their money, the EU Commission said in its statement. The new rules should apply to the 27 EU states as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. They will be implemented after a transition period: faster in the euro countries than in others. Parliament and the states must first give the green light to the provisional agreement.