EU adopts euro instant payments rules to take on Mastercard and Visa

Currently, payments using existing cards and deposits can take several business days.

The EU Council adopted rules to make instant payments in the euro currency fully available round-the-clock in a move it expected to help European payments companies compete against US firms Visa and Mastercard.

The new regulation will allow customers to transfer euro-denominated money within 10 seconds at any time, including outside business hours, not only within the same country but also to another EU member state, the EU Council said.