This step is part of the country's efforts to align its financial services with international standards, particularly those established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and to move closer to integration into the EU payment market.
The National Bank of Ukraine oversees the implementation of these changes, which followed the adoption of bill № 11043, signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The law mandates that instant payments meet the following criteria:
Transactions must be fully completed within 10 seconds, 24/7, including all checks, financial monitoring, and notifications to the recipient.
The term "instant payments" may only be used in advertising by banks and financial institutions if they comply with these stringent conditions. If a payment takes longer than 10 seconds, referring to it as an "instant payment" will be considered misleading and subject to penalties, including potential license revocation.
This initiative aims to enhance the speed and reliability of financial transactions, aligning Ukraine's banking system with European standards. Although the official implementation of 10-second payments is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2025, testing is already underway. However, issues have arisen during the testing phase, such as challenges in information exchange between processing centers and receiving banks. Despite these challenges, the NBU is committed to overcoming them.
The introduction of instant payments aligns with a broader European trend. The European Council has already instructed banks across Europe to implement similar systems, which has been successfully achieved in countries like Switzerland, where 60 banks are connected to the instant payment system, processing 95% of transactions in the country.