EU countries support cross-border instant payments plan

This strategy aims to permit payments in seconds for purchases made on the Internet and in stores around the EU. The countries want this instrument to promote EU-wide instant transfers in order to reduce their reliance on ‘large global players’ in the payment sector. On 22 March 2021, the EU Council of Ministers approved the Commission's strategy proposal. According to the EU Council, the SEPA transfer standard introduced in 2017 requires further legislative measures in order to gain greater acceptance. Initiatives to facilitate global instant payments and additional functions such as payment requests, QR codes, and ‘proxy lookup’ services should be promoted.

The EU Council is concerned about the barriers that technical infrastructure operators will create for payment service providers, which could disrupt the introduction of Europe-wide payment solutions. Furthermore, according to the panel, most domestic payment solutions based on cards or instant payments do not work across borders. The member states support the Commission's announcement that it would conduct a thorough analysis of the ongoing PSD2 implementation.