Instant Payment Regulation

Title

Instant Payment Regulation

Background

Instant payments are bank credit transfers which are settled within seconds at any time on any day. As such, they are very convenient for both consumers and businesses, but their roll-out and uptake has been slow in the EU, where they account for just over 11% of all credit transfers. To promote their development, the European Commission has put forward a regulation that will make instant payments in euro universally available, affordable and secure.

Key points

The EESC 's INT section adopted an opinion on the Commission's proposal for a Regulation on 27 January 2023. In the opinion, the EESC recommends that:

• instant payments should also be made available in the seven other currencies in use in the EU besides the euro, as their success will depend on how easily reachable the service is for EU consumers and businesses;
• checking that the account number (IBAN) and the name of the beneficiary correspond should be mandatory for all credit transfers across the EU, not just for instant payments. This will help make all money transfers more secure;
• no separate fee should be charged for this check; the price should be included in the price of the instant payment itself.

Link to full opinion

Additional information

EESC section responsible: Single Market, Production and Consumption (INT)

Opinion type: mandatory referral

Rapporteur: Christophe Lefèvre (Workers - Group II / France)

Reference: COM(2022) 546 final 2022/0341 COD

Date of adoption by section: 27 January 2023

Results of the section meeting vote: 64 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention

Date of adoption by EESC plenary session: 22-23 February 2023

Results of the plenary session vote: 146 in favour, 1 against, 1 abstention

Contacts: