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The EU’s Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) aims to make instant euro payments ubiquitous, shifting regulatory focus from adoption to operational resilience and compliance enforcement.
Payment service providers (PSPs) must adapt systems, processes and compliance frameworks to secure operational continuity and maintain competitiveness in 2026 and beyond.
The IPR applies to all PSPs, including banks, credit unions, electronic money institutions and payment institutions. It establishes mandatory requirements for instant credit transfers in euros and introduces verification of payee’s IBAN against payee’s name, requiring enhanced data management, reconciliation and anti-fraud capabilities.
For PSPs, offering real-time, cross-border euro transactions enhances customer experience but may require investment in systems upgrades and risk-management frameworks.
Getting ready for 2027 operational deadlines
Although some IPR deadlines have already passed, notably the 2025 deadlines for sending and receiving instant credit transfers, non-euro PSPs must meet 2027 deadlines for sending and receiving instant payments, requiring preparatory work in 2026 to maintain EU market access.
January 9, 2027 is the deadline for non-euro PSPs to receive instant payments and July 9, 2027 is the deadline for non-euro PSPs to send instant payments, as well as for IBAN matches.
Non-euro PSPs should act now to avoid operational disruption, compliance breaches and reputational damage.
During 2026, they will need to ensure data management systems are in place and implement anti-fraud tools to mitigate risk and maintain customer trust ahead of the 2027 deadlines.
Strengthening compliance and market transparency
Under the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Regulation, PSPs must report every 12 months on the level of charges for credit transfers, instant credit transfers and payment accounts, as well as the share of rejections of payment transactions due to the application of the targeted financial restrictive measures (TFRM).
The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued implementing technical standards (ITS) on these reporting requirements in February 2025. These introduce standardised reporting templates, instructions and methodologies that PSPs must use when submitting data to their national competent authorities.
The European Commission will use this data to monitor compliance with the SEPA Regulation and assess whether instant payments remain affordable compared with regular credit transfers.
Accurate reporting will be critical not only for regulatory compliance but also for demonstrating transparency to customers and market participants.
Messaging compliance and operational resilience
The IPR framework relies on existing SEPA schemes for euro payments. From November 15, 2026, the unstructured address format in ISO 20022 messages will no longer be allowed for SEPA credit transfer schemes, including instant payments.
PSPs must adopt either structured or hybrid address formats, otherwise they may face rejections or non-compliant message formats.
Ahead of the November 2026 deadline, PSPs must ensure their systems support ISO 20022 XML messages in line with the European Payments Council’s (EPC) “Inter-PSP” and “Customer-to-PSP” implementation guidelines.
In early 2026, member state central banks and regulatory authorities will likely issue circulars and/or guidelines instructing PSPs to upgrade their systems, as well as practical oversight in the form of validation tools.
PSPs must embed operational resilience into culture and processes, ensuring that every transaction can be monitored, validated and reported in near real time. This will increase operational costs in the short term but strengthen market credibility and stability.
This will stress their risk management and operational practices, but will also strengthen the credibility, efficiency and stability of the European payments market in an increasingly interconnected world.
Proactive preparation in 2026 will allow PSPs to avoid penalties, strengthen operational resilience and enhance competitive positioning as the EU’s instant payments landscape matures.
