LHV joins UK's Faster Payments scheme

The instant euro payments are provided by the Single Euro Payment Area Instant (SEPA Instant) and instant pound payments by the Faster Payments system.

The pound payments service had been operational since May 2019; however, Pay.UK, an organisation operating the pound payments in the UK, delayed the launch due to the requirement for further clarification on various legal questions which arose in connection with Brexit and the future separation from the current common legal framework that Estonia and the UK share, the bank said.

To ensure compliance post-Brexit, Estonia's Credit Institutions Act was changed, enabling LHV to launch the pound payment service, which is now available to its clients.

In addition to real-time pound and euro payments, LHV's clients also have access to safeguarding accounts, Virtual IBANs, currency exchange, liquidity services and possible financing via the bank's API LHV Connect interface.

Available 24/7, every day of the year, including bank holidays, the Faster Payments Domestic instant payment network enables near real-time pound payments up to a value of GBP 250,000 per payment. Faster Payments is a UK banking initiative established with the aim of reducing payment times between different banks' customer accounts from the standard three working days associated with the BACS system to a few seconds.

Faster Payments is directed toward fintechs and financial intermediaries, enabling them to use real-time pound and instant euro payments via integration with the LHV Connect API. Using this platform, fintechs can make domestic payments both in the UK and the area as well as receive an overview of their accounts in real time.

LHV Group is a financial group and capital provider in Estonia. Its key subsidiaries are LHV Pank and LHV Varahaldus. It established a branch in the UK in 2018 and is operating in London to service the corporate clients of LHV's financial intermediaries.