The European Parliament has just given the green light to new rules that aim to ensure that bank transfers reach their recipients immediately, whether they are individuals or companies. Furthermore, these types of transactions must be affordable for the consumer.
Thus, the immediacy of the transfer “must be guaranteed regardless of the day or time; the money must reach the recipient’s account within 10 seconds,” explains the European Parliament in a statement. Likewise, the entity will be obliged to report within this short period of time whether the funds that have been transferred have correctly reached the recipient.
The new regulations also establish that the cost of this type of transfer may not be higher than that of conventional ones. “The instant transfer regulation marks the long-awaited modernization of the payments system in the European single market. Customers can say goodbye to waiting two or three business days to access their money. We have achieved something that allows people and businesses really care: transferring money within 10 seconds at any time of the day,” said MP Michiel Hoogeveen.
The text, which was passed in the plenary session this Wednesday with 599 votes in favor, 7 against and 35 abstentions, will come into force twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Member States will have one year to implement it.
The new approved regulations contemplate that payment service providers must apply robust and up-to-date fraud detection and prevention measures to ensure that the money transferred ends up in the correct account. To do this, they must offer, at no additional cost, a service to verify the recipient’s identity.
Likewise, entities must allow clients to set a maximum amount for instant transfers that can be modified in each operation. And if they do not comply with their fraud prevention obligations and this causes financial harm to their clients, they will be entitled to compensation.
On the other hand, payment service providers that offer this type of operation must verify whether the client is subject to sanctions or other restrictive measures related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
