Instant credit transfers in euros are no longer a premium product in France. Since January 9, 2025, the EU’s Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), Regulation (EU) 2024/886, has barred banks in the euro area from charging more for an instant euro transfer than for a standard one. French banks had long sold instant transfers as a convenience option, at up to €1 a transaction. By mid-2026, 18 months into the pricing rule, SCT Inst, which executes in under 10 seconds around the clock, is shifting from premium service to the default.
The change matters most in France, where just 6% of credit transfers sent in 2022 were instant. Removing the price gap puts instant transfers in direct competition with direct debit and cards.
Four obligations for euro-area banks
The IPR did not invent instant transfers: the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme has run since 2017. Adopted in the spring of 2024, the regulation made them universal and affordable, through four obligations on payment service providers (PSPs) in the euro area.
- Receiving instant credit transfers: mandatory since January 9, 2025.
- Sending instant credit transfers: mandatory since October 9, 2025.
- Pricing: since January 9, 2025, an instant transfer can never cost more than a standard SEPA credit transfer, which in practice makes it free for the vast majority of consumers.
- Security: PSPs screen their customers against sanctions lists every day, instead of checking each transaction, which would have broken real-time processing. They must also run Verification of Payee before the payer confirms.
The rules arrive in two waves
France starts from far behind
France came to the reform with low usage. In 2022, barely 6% of the credit transfers sent in France were instant, against about 13% on average in the euro area and close to 100% in the Netherlands, where banks made instant transfers free and the default from the start. The obstacle was commercial rather than technical: French banks charged for the service. By banning that surcharge, the IPR goes straight at what held French adoption back.
| Feature | Standard SEPA credit transfer | SEPA Instant Credit Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| Execution time | 1 to 2 business days | Under 10 seconds |
| Availability | Business days only | 365 days a year, weekends and public holidays included |
| Pricing (euro area) | Often free | Can’t cost more than a standard transfer |
| Regulatory cap | No common cap | No cap set by the regulation |
| Payee verification | Not mandatory | Verification of Payee mandatory |
Free, but transfer limits still vary by bank
Free does not mean uniform. Banks can still set per-transaction or daily limits to fight fraud. Online banks such as BoursoBank, Fortuneo, Hello bank!, and Monabanq often allow up to €15,000 per instant transfer. Some traditional banks cap customers at a few thousand euros a day through anti-fraud filters and push larger amounts onto standard transfers. In line with the IPR, the SCT Inst scheme has also dropped the €100,000 per-transaction ceiling it long applied. Limits now depend on each bank’s risk policy, not on the scheme.
Instant A2A puts pressure on cards
The bigger strategic prize is account-to-account (A2A) payments, well beyond consumers paying back friends. A transfer that is free, immediate, and irrevocable is an ideal base for new European payment methods. It is the rail EPI’s Wero wallet relies on for its e-commerce push. For merchants, instant A2A promises lower fees than cards and funds credited right away. With the regulation turning the technology into a commodity, the contest in the coming months will be fought over user experience and trust, the only things that can dislodge cards from their dominant position.