The European Parliament has voted in favour of a trilogue agreement that will make it compulsory for banks to transfer money in euros instantaneously.

Parliament’s rapporteur Michiel Hoogeveen (ECR Group, Netherlands) said: “Payments in the internal market in Euro will finally enter the 21st century and this will be a great relief for many citizens. Everyone can say goodbye to waiting two or three working days for their money”.

“The law obliges all payment service providers in the EU to offer fast national and international credit transfers in euros and to execute them within 10 seconds during and outside normal bank opening hours. Banks will not be allowed to charge extra for this service. Banks will also be obliged to check the IBAN against the name of the account holder. This will prevent errors and fraud,” said Hoogeveen, who negotiated the text for the Parliament with the Council and the Commission.

“In addition, banks will check their customers against EU sanctions lists on a daily basis as standard, so that it will no longer be necessary to check each individual transaction”, explained Hoogeveen.