Good news for residents of the European Union, a new regulation will make their lives easier, by making everyday banking transactions faster, more secure and, above all, completely free.
Although we don’t necessarily think about it, banking services are among those we use the most on a daily basis. In the digital age, many operations that were once time-consuming and complex have become much faster and significantly simpler. This is the case for transfers, which are made directly from your bank’s online space and which only take a few days. And for urgent situations, there are instant transfers, which are completed in just a few seconds! The only downside is that banks often charge fees, which doesn’t make them very popular.
But things will soon change, thanks to European Regulation No. 2024/886 of March 13, 2024, which aims to democratize instant transfers within the euro zone, by imposing new obligations on payment service providers such as banks. And this new regulation is particularly favorable to consumers, since it will make instant transfers not only free, but also more secure.
On the one hand, this new regulation obliges all banks which already offer a “classic” transfer service to offer an instant transfer service to their customers, available 24 hours a day every day of the year, which therefore allows the Sending and receiving funds in just seconds. On the other hand, this regulation requires that the fees charged by banks for the use of instant transfers are not higher than those for transfers of the same type. As traditional transfers are free in most banks, instant transfers will also become free.
In addition, in order to reduce the risk of errors and fraud, the regulation requires the establishment of a beneficiary verification service before the transfer is executed. When entering the bank details and the name of the recipient of the payment, the payer’s bank must verify the concordance of this information with the beneficiary’s bank. In the event of a difference, the bank issuing the payment must inform its customer before offering to carry out the transfer, in order to avoid sending the funds to an incorrect or fraudulent account. And good news; this verification service will be provided free of charge to all users.
These new rules, beneficial for customers but cumbersome to put in place for banks, will take a little time to come into force. For banks and all payment service providers located in a member state of the European Union whose currency is the euro, these new provisions must be applied no later than January 9, 2025. A deadline that is certainly a little distant , but which will arrive faster than we think and will allow everyone to use instant transfers free and securely.