Instant Payments Regulation (IPR)
The Instant Payments Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/886, requires payment service providers that offer euro credit transfers to also offer instant ones, at no higher price, with verification of payee and daily sanctions screening of customers. Euro area banks had to receive instant payments from January 2025 and send them from October 2025.
Roles that need it
What it is
The Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), Regulation (EU) 2024/886, amends the SEPA Regulation and other EU acts to make instant euro credit transfers available to everyone with a euro payment account. It entered into force on 8 April 2024. Payment service providers that offer standard euro credit transfers must also offer instant ones, at a price no higher than the standard transfer. They must offer verification of payee before every transfer, and for instant transfers they must check their customers against EU sanctions lists at least daily, instead of screening each payment.
Why it matters
The deadlines fall in steps. In the euro area, banks had to receive instant payments by 9 January 2025 and send them, with verification of payee, by 9 October 2025. Member States outside the euro area, payment institutions and e-money institutions follow later dates in 2027. The regulation also amends the Settlement Finality Directive so that payment and e-money institutions can take part directly in designated payment systems. For banks this changes the operating model: processing around the clock, real-time liquidity, faster fraud controls, and price parity that ends instant payments as a premium product.
Worked example
Illustrative numbers. A bank charged 0.20 euro for a standard online transfer and 1.50 euro for an instant one. Under the regulation, the instant price can be at most 0.20 euro. If its customers send 2 million instant payments a year, the bank’s instant fee income falls from 3 million euro to at most 400,000 euro. The bank also counts the cost of change: a verification of payee call on every transfer, a daily sanctions check of the full client base, and liquidity for weekends.
Who uses it
Regulatory change analysts (COMPL-REG) map each article to systems and owners. Payments operations analysts (PAYOPS) run the new round-the-clock processes. Cash management product managers (PCMPROD) reprice products and redesign limits. Sanctions analysts (AML-SANC) move from payment screening to daily client screening for instant transfers. Product owners in banking (PO-BANK) deliver the channel changes. Regulatory consultants (FSCONS-RISK) support gap analyses and implementation plans.
Common confusions
The regulation sets outcomes. It names no scheme or settlement service, although the SCT Inst scheme and TIPS are the common ways to meet them. The daily check concerns EU restrictive measures for instant euro transfers; national lists and anti-money laundering transaction monitoring still apply. Price parity compares like with like: the instant fee cannot exceed the fee for the same kind of standard transfer in the same channel. Verification of payee applies to standard credit transfers as well as instant ones.