European banks should work to allow for the immediate transfer customers’ payments, according to the region’s payments development body.
The Euro Retail Payments Board has described the real time – or near-real time – transfer of payments as the “next frontier” for the industry following the introduction of the Single European Payments Area.
SEPA, which came into force in February, established a pan-European standard that made it easier for cross-border payments within the region.
The ERPB has said it would now work to develop a system to speed up these payments, in order to avoid the fragmentation of the market and the development of different solutions in the euro area countries.
It said it would also work on the development of person-to-person mobile transactions and contactless payments.
Meanwhile, ERPB has released a set of recommendations aimed at addressing lingering issues around SEPA, which the board was initially created to oversee.
