AFR / GIROInstantForint instant payment rail, mandatory for all banks from launch (March 2020). Hungary imposed instant payments by regulation, with no voluntary phase. Settlement takes under 5 seconds. On September 1, 2023, the limit for electronic credit transfers subject to mandatory instant execution rose from HUF 10 million to HUF 20 million.GIRO Zrt. (subsidiary of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank) · since 2020more than 200 million instant credit transfers worth HUF 50.9 trillion in 2023, up 7.9% in number and 13.2% in value (MNB, Fizetési rendszer jelentés 2024)
Global registry · Europe · Central and Eastern Europe
Hungary Payment systems
6 systems listed.
This country doesn’t have a written market analysis yet: e-commerce shares, regulator, and key players are still to be documented. The systems below, however, are verified.
IBAN · Hungary
28 charactersSEPA area179 bank codes160 BIC codes
- Total length
- 28 characters
- Bank code position
- 5–7
- Branch code position
- 8–11
- BBAN structure
3!n4!n1!n15!n1!n
Structurally valid example
HUcountry code42check digits117bank7301branch61111101800000000account
HU42 1177 3016 1111 1018 0000 0000
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Merchant, acquirer, PSPPayment regulationCentral banks and payment infrastructuresAgents, distributors, and banking-as-a-service: who is liable for whatPayments in the BalkansPayments in the Baltics and FinlandAccepting payments in Germany, Austria, and SwitzerlandAccepting payments in Spain and PortugalChoosing a jurisdiction for your payment institutionAccepting payments in the Netherlands and BelgiumAccepting payments in the NordicsAccepting payments in Poland and Central Europe
Instant payments
GIROInstant (AFR)Hungary made instant settlement mandatory for all electronic transfers up to HUF 10 million from launch in March 2020 (raised to HUF 20 million in September 2023), the first regulatory mandate of its kind in Europe, ahead of the EU Instant Payments Regulation.GIRO Zrt. (subsidiary of the National Bank of Hungary) · since 2020
Clearing and settlement
BKR (Bankközi Klíring Rendszer)Bulk clearing in forint (deferred credit transfers, direct debits). It coexists with AFR: BKR remains the rail for scheduled bulk payments.GIRO Zrt. · since 1994
Interoperable QR
qvikA merchant acceptance layer (QR, NFC, deep link) built on AFR, Hungary’s instant payment system. Since September 1, 2024, it has been available in ALL banking apps by central bank mandate, with no separate app. Its killer argument: no fees for either merchant or customer, a direct attack on card interchange.Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) / GIRO Zrt. · since 2024About 5,000 accepting merchants at the end of 2024, against a target of 20,000 announced for November 2024 (MNB / Hungarian press)
Acquiring and processing
SimplePay / SimpleHungary’s leading PSP: online acceptance, payment terminals, tap to phone, tokenization, and recurring payments, plus the Simple consumer app. It also offers qvik, Hungary’s instant payment service, which makes it the usual integration point for a merchant that wants to accept payments in Hungary by methods other than cards.SimplePay Zrt. (company formerly named OTP Mobil Kft., renamed SimplePay Zrt. in July 2025)
Other
VIBERHungary’s forint RTGS (not to be confused with the messaging app of the same name). It settles BKR and AFR positions.Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) · since 1999