Finally, you can instantly transfer up to 15,000 Euros within the euro zone

A new system within the euro zone promises to speed up money transfers from one account to the other to just a few seconds!

Anyone ever needing to send money to Spain will probably have wondered why the money can leave your account in seconds but often not arrive to its destination account until days after. The problem is made worse if a weekend comes into play and customers are often left wondering whether the banks are deliberately holding on to the money to make interest from it.

Even though money transfer services such as Transferwise make the transferal of money abroad easier you would be excused for wondering why in this age of technology money transfer are not much quicker.

As of Wednesday 14th February 2018 a new system within the Euro zone promises to begin making this situation better. Up to 15,000 euros can be transferred almost instantly from one account to another, we say almost instantly as there will be a delays of around 10 seconds before the money reaches the recipients account. That’s a huge improvement on how the system operates now!

The new system is already well subscribed by Spanish banks with reports last November indicating the likes of Santander, Caixabank, Sabadell, Abanca and BBVA among those who have signed up. Bankinter are still testing the system before making the switch but in the meantime Bankinter customers can continue to use the Bizum system to make transferals.

Although the system is being made available primarily in Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands implementation of the new system will be obligatory in all Euro zone banks by the end of 2018.

Analysts are mixed in their views on whether the service will be free, some believe it will eventually be at no cost but others believe a small charge of up to 50 cents will charged per transaction. That’s a small price for a much improved service.

Unfortunately those wishing to send more than 15,000 euros will still experience a time delay, this is largely due to Anti Money Laundering rules which affect all financial services in Europe and other parts of the world.