There’s no such thing as banking hours anymore. Weekends, evenings, holidays — they’re all fair game now. With the EU’s SEPA Instant Payments Regulation set to become mandatory by October 2025, banks are being pushed into a world where euro payments must clear in seconds, 24/7/365. It is a landmark shift designed to modernise European payments, but it comes at a steep cost.
New research by RedCompass Labs reveals that 47% of European banks expect to lose millions in interest as they scramble to meet the regulation’s round-the-clock liquidity demands.
This isn’t just a technical adjustment — it’s a re-engineering of how banks operate, fund, and defend their reputations in real time. Based on a survey of 300 senior payment professionals, RedCompass Labs’ report, ‘Inside Europe’s Race to Instant Payments’, outlines the operational and financial hurdles banks must now overcome.
