Switzerland’s SIX notes in a blog post that the market launch of instant payments in the European nation has been announced.
As explained in the update shared by SIX, instant payments were “launched in the Swiss market on 20 August 2024.”
Around 60 financial institutions are now able “to receive and process instant payments, covering more than 95% of Swiss retail payment transactions.”
By end-2026 at the latest, all financial institutions “active in retail payment transactions will be reachable.”
The first institutions have already launched retail offerings “enabling customers to send instant payments. In the coming months, further banks will announce similar services.”
Instant payments allow private individuals and companies “to perform account-to-account transactions with immediate execution and final settlement in seconds – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (including public holidays).”
This offers significant advantages “for individuals, companies and commercial banks.”
SIX further explains that thanks to “shorter settlement chains, risks are reduced and funds received are available immediately.”
SIX added that for companies and commercial banks, instant payments “expand opportunities for automating processes and linking with other services.”
SIX further noted that traditional transfers will still be possible. The Swiss National Bank and SIX Interbank Clearing Ltd anticipate “that instant payments are likely to become established in Switzerland in the medium term and form the basis for further innovation in payment transactions.”
The technical framework for this new type of payment was “put in place with the successful go-live of the new generation of the central Swiss payment system in November 2023.”
This market launch represents a further “important milestone and reflects the collective stakeholder commitment to the future of cashless payments in Switzerland.”
As noted in the update, SIX provides and “operates stable and efficient infrastructure for the Swiss and Spanish financial centers, thus ensuring access to the capital markets and the flow of information and money between financial market players.”
As a global provider of financial information, SIX says that it delivers “high-quality reference, pricing, corporate actions, and ESG data and provides regulatory services and indices to clients around the world.”
The company is owned “by its users (more than 120 banks) with a workforce of 4,160 employees and a presence in 19 countries.”