Hungary’s central bank endorses instant payment infrastructure plans
Instant payments infrastructure coming to Hungary in 2019
Hungary’s central bank and regulator, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), is bringing a new instant payments system to the country.
The bank’s financial stability board has approved the operational model of the instant payment service and hence, “one of the most significant medium-term developments of the Hungarian financial infrastructure may commence”, MNB states.
The new scheme will require “state-of-the-art IT and communication solutions in payments”.
MNB will publish the details related to the operation and development of the infrastructure in early 2017.
“All affected stakeholders will have to implement all those necessary improvements that will ensure the availability of the instant payment services to the domestic consumers and enterprises by the second half of 2019, at the latest,” the bank states.
According to MNB, “in the new system it will be possible to initiate payments up to the amount HUF 10 million [$33,600], 24 hours on each day of the year, even by merely using the mobile phone number of the payee, and they will reach the payee in a matter of seconds.
“At present, the widespread usage of advanced technologies, such as mobile payment solutions, is extremely limited in the area of domestic payment services.
“By introducing the instant payment service, the MNB’s objective is to utilise modern IT solutions in Hungarian payments, thereby supporting innovation in retail payments and stimulating competition among participants of the payments market.
“Ultimately, this will provide consumers with cheaper services offering better customer experiences, improve the financing situation of companies, enhance the competitiveness of the financial intermediary system and reduce the social costs of payments, thereby also contributing to economic growth and competitiveness.”
