SEB will provide instant payments starting the 4th of December

Starting from 4 December, SEB Estonia and SEB Latvia will make their complete solution of instant payments available to all their clients. This service will allow SEB’s clients to make intra-European and domestic transfers of up to 15,000 euros around the clock in just a few seconds. The banks of both the remitter and the beneficiary must have joined the system of instant payments for the respective payment to be made. SEB Estonia and SEB Latvia are among the first banks in Europe to enable instant payments.

SEB’s clients do not need to change their usual payment habits to use the option of instant payments. An instant payment is automatically initiated if possible. The price of an instant payment is equal to the price of a standard payment of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) for SEB’s clients. The SEPA system will remain operational parallel to the system of instant payments. The arrival of instant payments is expected to have a positive effect on e-commerce, business activities, and everyday settlements. In many cases, instant payments can be considered a convenient alternative to cash payments.

Since 21 November, all clients of SEB Estonia and SEB Latvia have been able to receive instant payments. The function of initiating instant payments, however, was added on 4 December. In addition, the option of making instant payments via the SEB mobile application will become available in the next few days.

‘For our economy to enjoy the benefits arising from the possibility of instant payments, most European and Baltic banks must join the system. Currently, SEB Pank is indeed the only Estonian operator in this domain, but I believe that our initiative will also receive support from other service providers as early as in 2018. If other payment service providers in Estonia joined the system, up to 80% of SEB’s standard SEPA payments would be replaced with instant payments in the near future,’ says Allan Parik, Chairman of the Management Board of SEB Pank, about the development in the field.

Instant payments are executed within the framework of a pan-European payment system, which provides the option of making European transfers of up to 15,000 euros in just a few seconds. The advantage of this system over the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) system is that it works around the clock and payments are also processed during weekends and public holidays. Joining the system of instant payments is voluntary for European banks and is predicated on the readiness of the payment service provider to process payments around the clock.

More information:

Julia Piilmann
Communications Manager
Marketing and Communications Division
SEB Pank

Phone: +372 665 5340
Address: Tornimäe 2, 15010 Tallinn
E-mail: julia.piilmann@seb.ee