Comment by TRiG_Ireland
3 years ago
So, almost like SEPA, but not as good, as not all banks are in it? I can type anyone's IBAN* into my banking app and transfer them money pretty much instantly. However, ours will have a delay outside banking hours, which is annoying. Sounds like FedNow is always instant, which is a definite improvement.
* Any IBAN from a SEPA country, at least.
"Normal" SEPA isn't instant either. You need SEPA Instant Payments for that and many banks don't support that yet although an EU directive is supposed to make it mandatory to at least be able to receive them, I think.
A large portion of SEPA bank accounts can now use TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) on TARGET2/T2. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/target/tips/html/index.en.htm...
My mid-sized Italian bank has a promotion right now to make instant payments with only 1 € in fees (instead of the usual 7 they charge, or 0 for "normal" bank transfers settled overnight).