Instant payments are revolutionising the financial landscape in France and Europe. By enabling real-time transactions, this evolution meets a growing demand for speed and fluidity, both for consumers and businesses. However, its adoption raises major challenges, particularly in terms of regulation, security, and European sovereignty. Many experts from companies such as the Banque de France, Mercatel, Ingenico, and EPI Company discussed the opportunities and challenges related to this major transformation. Together, they explored how harmonising regulations and ensuring transaction security can reshape the payment landscape, while highlighting the importance of these developments for merchants and consumers across Europe.

Standardising Europe around instant payments

Instant payments, or the ability to make financial transactions in real time, allow funds to be transferred immediately from one account to another, at any time. This evolution aims to meet the growing needs of consumers for speed and flexibility, while enhancing the competitiveness of the European financial market. Pierre BIENVENU, Director of Financial Stability and Operations at the Banque de France, stated that the European regulation planned for 2025 aims to standardise the costs of instant transfers across Europe by imposing price alignment with standard transfers and making it mandatory for all banks to join the system. According to him, "This tariff harmonisation is essential to ensure fair competition among European banking players and to provide consumers with more efficient payment services".

This measure will help cross-border transactions, particularly for Small and Medium size businesses (SMB), which face high fees and prolonged processing times with traditional methods. However, France still lags behind, with only 6.4% of instant transfers in 2023, compared to over 70% in some European countries like the Netherlands. Pierre BIENVENU also emphasises the importance of catching up to avoid a fragmentation of the European market.

2 speakers sitting in front of attendees in the TRUSTECH conference room, talking about the revolution in instant paymentConference on Instant Payments in the TRUSTECH PAY Conference Room

An economic opportunity for merchants

For merchants, instant payments are not just a technical solution but also a real economic lever. Charlotte PAGOT, Project Manager at Mercatel, explained that tools such as Open Banking solutions, which allow banks to share financial data with third parties through application programming interfaces (API), and real-time payment request platforms, meet several key needs: "Instant payments can reduce our dependence on international networks and allow better cost control for merchants". She also mentioned specific use cases, particularly for high-value transactions in sectors such as DIY and furniture, where instant transfer solutions are already being tested to avoid bank card limits. These uses allow consumers to make significant purchases while offering merchants lower costs related to international card network fees.

Additionally, Charlotte PAGOT highlighted the importance of European sovereignty, explaining that developing local payment solutions would reduce dependency on non-European actors. This particularly aims to reduce the influence of international giants such as Visa and Mastercard, who dominate the transaction market in Europe. Establishing European solutions would help better control costs, enhance data security, and ensure compliance with local regulations.

 

Building a strong european alternative

2 speakers sitting in front of attendees in the TRUSTECH conference room, talking about the revolution in instant payment

Pauline CIEUTAT, Head of Market Intelligence and Innovation at EPI Company, presented the European Payments Initiative (EPI) as a response to the challenges of sovereignty and competitiveness in the sector. The EPI plans to launch a digital payment solution based on a unified digital wallet, allowing consumers to make purchases online and in-store using their phone number or email address, without relying on traditional cards. By integrating features such as cashback (cash withdrawal at purchase) or staggered payments (splitting a purchase into several payments), the EPI aims to meet new consumer expectations while adding value for merchants. This approach will help foster customer loyalty while supporting the competitiveness of European retailers.

The initiative is supported by several major European banks, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, and Santander, and is built on an innovative technological infrastructure that guarantees fast and secure transactions. Mark DILLON, Marketing Director of Solutions at Ingenico, emphasised that technological infrastructures, particularly payment terminals compatible with QR codes and mobile payments, are essential to make the user experience more fluid and facilitate the adoption of these new solutions. He stated: "The adoption of advanced technologies is crucial to providing consumers with a seamless and secure payment experience while enabling merchants to adapt to new market trends."

The rise of instant payments in France and Europe represents a major transformation of the financial landscape. This evolution aims to standardised transactions, reinforce European sovereignty in payments, and offer faster and more secure solutions to consumers and merchants. The collaboration between regulators, financial institutions, merchants, and technology providers will be crucial to accelerate this transition and maximise its benefits. As the European regulation on instant transfers will take effect in 2025, industry players expect significant changes, both technically and economically. This turning point represents a unique opportunity to strengthen European sovereignty while meeting the needs of an evolving market.
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