Instant Payments Will Transform Europe's Economy – But Trust Must Be At The Core

This October marks a pivotal moment for Europe's financial system, with the latest deadline in the EU's Instant Payments Regulation requiring all banks in the eurozone to send instant payments in addition to just receiving them.

It's a technical milestone with transformative potential. Consumers and businesses will be able to move money across the eurozone in seconds. This isn't just about speed – it's about empowering choice, flexibility and financial inclusion. Whether settling invoices, paying wages, supporting family or shopping online, instant payments are expected to unlock new options for how consumers and businesses pay and are paid.

Lessons from the UK

The UK's experience offers valuable lessons. The Faster Payments system has delivered remarkable growth – transaction volumes have surged over 270% since 2017¹. Yet this success has also exposed vulnerabilities. Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud rose sharply, with losses reaching £450 million in 2024². Even when victims are reimbursed, the emotional toll and erosion of confidence are serious consequences. And the broader impact is also significant: fraud can divert industry resources from innovation and fuel illicit activity, undermining both financial stability and public safety.

For the financial services industry across the eurozone the lesson is clear. Instant payments can work at scale, but if safeguards are not built in from the start, speed can also accelerate fraud.

This challenge is intensified by technology itself. The increasing availability of AI has not only equipped banks with better detection tools; it has also armed fraudsters with the means to personalise scams at scale, automate attacks and bypass conventional safeguards. 

That is why one of the most effective defences is prevention – taking steps to stop fraud before it happens.

Technology and Collaboration: The Only Way to Stay Ahead

Technology, particularly AI, is proving critical here. In a pilot with Pay.UK on the UK's Faster Payments network, Visa's AI models identified up to 54% of fraudulent transactions that had already passed through banks' sophisticated fraud detection systems. When analysing card transactions and instant payments together, Visa’s fraud detection delivered an extra 30% uplift in detection, demonstrating AI's power to connect previously siloed data and anticipate threats humans might miss. This is a great advance and pays a trust dividend - because even if stolen funds are recovered, the damage to consumer confidence is already done.

But AI alone is not enough. It can be challenging for any single institution to see the whole picture of fraud risk. Cross-industry collaboration - sharing intelligence, pooling insights and building a more complete view of threats - is essential. To truly protect consumers, this must extend across the entire financial services ecosystem, involving all actors in the payment chain.

This month’s EU instant payments milestone is expected to deliver unprecedented speed and choice, but the long-term success of the initiative could be impacted by how well safeguards are implemented from the start and how genuine ecosystem-wide collaboration is fostered.

Visa works closely with industry and authorities across Europe to share threat intelligence and apply its global security expertise to help balance protection with seamless user experiences. Our priority remains to ensure European businesses and consumers stay secure while ensuring new payment technologies are protected from day one.

Because in the world of payments, speed is only an advantage if trust is maintained – and Visa’s mission is to ensure that trust grows alongside innovation, driving economic growth, empowering businesses and keeping consumers secure across Europe.

[1] Pay.UK, Payment Statistics Overview, Payment statistics overview - Pay.UK

[2] UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report, 2025,  UK Finance Annual Fraud report 2025.pdf