Money from one bank to another in 10 seconds starting next year

The EU express payment regulation speeds up account transfers between different banks. Tiina somerpuro/KL

The EU express payment regulation, which will be introduced in stages during the next year, will significantly improve the transmission of payments. With the express payment regulation, a customer of any bank can send and receive express transfers in euros in ten seconds, regardless of the time of day or whether the transfer takes place in the home country or to another EU country.

All banks located in euro countries accept express transfers to the payee’s account from January 9. Although some banks already offer express transfer services, all EU banks operating in the euro area must start complying with the EU’s express payment regulation no later than next October.

Cheating more difficult

– According to the regulation, from October 2025, the payer’s bank must check with the payee’s bank whether the account information provided by the payer corresponds to the payee’s name and account number. After this, the bank will inform the payer of the result of the check, says Finanssiala ry’s leading expert Inkeri Tolvanen in the bulletin.

Checking the recipient of the payment aims to prevent the payment from being passed on to the wrong person or company. Currently, payments are transferred to the recipient’s account based on the account number alone.

– Checking the payee’s account also reduces frauds where the bank’s customer is tricked into sending a payment to the wrong account, Tolvanen states.

Effects on companies

For companies that send account transfers in batch transfers between companies, the payee checking service causes system changes.

The financial industry is currently developing a national standard for the payee check service, which is intended for companies that send payment orders in batch transfers and their account banks. The standard is scheduled to be published in early 2025.