The new European regulation on instant transfers came into force yesterday, Monday April 8. Consequence: we now know the deadline by which French banks will have to make this means of payment free. Explanations.
Reminder of the context: since 2017, the euro zone has had a new means of payment reducing the time required for a transfer of money between accounts from 24, or even 48 hours, to 10 seconds maximum. A means of payment which, moreover, works all year round and not just on working days.
Alas, the instant SEPA transferalmost 7 years after its launch, represents, in many EU countries, only a small portion of all transfers: 6%, for example, in France in the first half of 2023 (1).
The reason for this delay is known. This is the consequence of a choice made by most French banks: that of charge for issuing instant transfers. According to our tariff statement, it is only free in 25 banks, out of the 128 observed, and rating 1.02 euros on average in the others. Worse, in certain banks, its cost can go much higher: 10 euros, for example, in the Banques Populaires if the amount sent exceeds 15,000 euros.
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To put an end to these practices, European institutions had no choice but to legislate. It is, in fact, a sovereignty issue: the European Union wants to make instant transfers the pillar of its autonomy in terms of payments, facing the power of non-European players in the sector: that of acceptance networks, like Visa and Mastercard, and technological giants, like Apple or Google, all Americans.
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To force the adoption of instant transfers, the EU will therefore impose a rule: an instant transfer cannot be charged a higher price than a traditional transfer. Clearly, a bank which does not charge for issuing a transfer (which is the case for all French banks when the transfer is initiated by the customer from their web or mobile banking space) will no longer be able to charge for the instant transfer. . Which obviously opens the door generalization of its free. It would not be desirable for payment service providers to circumvent the objective underlying this requirement, warns the European legislator.
Tariff alignment no later than January 9, 2025
It remained to be seen when the new regulations would be implemented. This is now the case, with the entry into force of the text, yesterday Monday April 8, 2024: this price alignment must take place no later than January 9, 2025.
On this same date, all credit institutions will also have the obligation to offer their customers the capacity to receive instant transfers. This is already the case for the vast majority of French banks, nobanks and payment services. There ability to make transfers will become obligatory no later than October 9, 2025.
Note that banks in EU countries whose currency is not the euro (Denmark, Sweden, Poland, etc.) have a additional period of two years, until 2027, to apply this regulation. This is also the case for payment and electronic money institutions, which must comply with it no later than April 9, 2027.
New security measures
These changes will be accompanied new obligations in terms of securing transactions and the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The instant transfer, in fact, represents a small challenge for the banks. It is, in principle, irrevocable. However, in the case of a traditional transfer, the issuer has a short period of time to change his mind. This is no longer the case with instant transfer. Result: the fraud rate of the latter was, in the first half of 2023, comparable to that of the bank card, but twenty times higher than that of the traditional transfer (1).
To limit, in particular, the risks of false RIB fraud, in which the criminal usurps the identity of a third party known to his victim (a relative, a merchant, a craftsman, etc.), banks will have to be in capacity, at the latest on October 9, 2025of check the concordance between the IBAN identifier of the recipient account and the name of its holder.
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(1) Source: Banque de France