15 March 2023
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
MEP calls for Irish banks to move swiftly to introduce instant bank transfers
Cork based Fianna Fáil MEP, Billy Kelleher has said that Irish retail banks must catch up with other European banks by introducing instant transfers between IBAN accounts.
Kelleher, a member of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee, said, “The current situation simply is not fair to Irish banking customers. At present, it can take at least a day for a transfer to be processed and to show up on an Irish bank account. Whereas, in many European countries, these transfers are instantaneous.
“While there is no legal requirement on banks to offer this service at present, it is coming down the tracks. The European Commission recently published a proposal that would make it mandatory for all IBAN to IBAN transfers to be ‘instant’.
“The Irish banking sector needs to realise the direction of travel and start making a move ahead of it becoming mandatory if they want to catch up.
“Why is it that Irish banks always have to be dragged kicking and screaming in terms of introducing pro-consumer innovations.
“Ireland prides itself on being a leading Fin-Tech country. Yet, we can be incredibly slow at introducing basic services like this for customers.
“This is one of the many reasons why Revolut and other online banking providers are growing their market share in Ireland.
“I appreciate there may be a cost associated with introducing this service, but Irish banking customers are paying bank charges on a monthly or quarterly basis; they deserve this service,” concluded Kelleher.
TheCork.ie Opinion: “The cheque is in the post” used to be an excuse in the paper era. A modern version excuse is often “I made the payment in online banking but it will take 24+ hours for the bank transfer to reach your account”. Instant transfers would help in commerce.