Instant bank transfers to become a reality in Hungary

In Hungary

In the near future, bank transfers of up to HUF 10 million in value may be carried out within seconds, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, instead of the hours or even days it can currently still take for such operations to be processed, according to a report by online news portal index.hu.

The next step toward making instant bank transfers a reality was taken Wednesday when the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) approved the operational model of the payment service making such transactions possible.

At the same time, however, the MNB noted that because neither the central infrastructure nor the systems of payment service providers currently enable payments to be processed at such speed, plans envisage that the financial dream is likely to become a reality only by the second half of 2019.

Under the envisaged new instant transfer system, payments would be effected within five seconds, with no account number required for the transaction, but only a telephone number, e-mail address or tax number, according to the MNB. The system would operate at weekends, during holidays and outside banking hours, replacing the situation today where transfers are only processed during working hours on working days.

In its comments, the central bank observed that the use of advanced technologies - for instance, the widespread use of mobile payment solutions - is extremely limited in domestic payment services at present. The goal in introducing instant transfers is to stimulate new solutions, innovation and market competition.

According to the index.hu report, it is also hoped that the technology needed for instant transfers may lead to the creation of interchangeable electronic payment solutions that may come to replace the use of cash in an increasing number of contexts, rendering transactions faster, more convenient and efficient to the benefit of the economy as a whole.

Index.hu adds that, although the MNB did not touch on this aspect, the system would make it easier to follow who makes transfers, how much, and to whom.

Precise details of the operation and development of the necessary infrastructure will be made public by the central bank in early 2017.

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