Craig Ramsey, Head of Account-to-Account Payments at ACI Worldwide explores research that establishes—for the first time—an empirical link between instant payments and financial inclusion.
The EU’s financial landscape is seemingly entering a perfect storm.
The outlook for GDP growth has been revised down by 0.2% for 2025. Meanwhile, fluctuating tariff changes are impacting the Eurozone’s economic recovery, and geopolitical uncertainty is creating a volatile environment.
In the midst of these challenges, the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) is poised to reshape the entire EU payments landscape. Mandating all payment service providers (PSP) to receive instant payments since January 9, 2025, and send them by October 9, 2025, the IPR is not merely adding to the storm’s intensity but rather offering a potential way out.
The sheer scale of operational and technological adjustments required by the IPR has understandably left many banks viewing instant payments as a regulatory burden – a mere box-ticking exercise.
However, to see it as such misses the bigger picture: instant payments may just be the solution to help Europe weather the incoming storm.
Beyond compliance: The challenge for banks
To truly understand the solution, it’s crucial to first know the scope of the problem. After all, the EU’s IPR can be seen more as a stress test for the resilience and adaptability of European banks.
The first and most obvious issue are the tight implementation deadlines. With the IPR entering into force from April 2024, it’s left banks just over a year to comply with the October 2025 deadline for sending payments, leaving little room for error with many scrambling to adapt. While some banks are seizing this opportunity for strategic transformation, others are narrowly focused on basic compliance, simply transferring the necessary existing processes without any added value or modernisation initiatives.
Why? Because the transition to instant payments does demand significant investment – not just in software and hardware upgrades but also in managing the impact on consumers and addressing staff skills gaps. If not managed carefully, the disruption caused by these changes can lead to customer dissatisfaction and operational instability. This, coupled with the sheer cost of modernisation, is why many banks adopt a ‘bare minimum’ approach.
However, this short-term strategy carries an even greater long-term cost. The popularity of instant payments is increasing rapidly, driven by the likes of Wero—a pan-European digital wallet solution using instant payment rails—already live in France, Germany and Belgium. ACI Worldwide’s Real-Time Payments: Economic Impact and Financial Inclusion report quantifies the economic impact, financial inclusion benefits and potential profit opportunities for financial institutions and it finds that instant payments are the only solution that can bring affordable financial services to millions.
Therefore, those who fail to modernise and truly embrace instant payments beyond the necessary ‘tick box’ miss out on much more than previously thought. They miss out on supporting what is at the heart of the payments industry’s mission: financial inclusion.
The inclusion imperative
The fact of the matter is that instant payments drive economic growth. At a time when many economies are teetering between growth and recession, instant payments could make all the difference across the bloc. The ACI study provides compelling evidence of this. The research goes beyond previous analyses by revealing—for the first time—an empirical link between the adoption of instant payments and tangible gains in financial inclusion. The study highlights the economic impact of instant payments and how they are set to boost global GDP growth by $285.8 billion by 2028, the equivalent to the labour of 16.9 million workers.
The true impact of instant payments lies in their ability to drive financial inclusion. By allowing faster, lower-cost transactions, instant payments make financial services more accessible, particularly for those traditionally underserved within the banking system. They break down barriers to financial participation, allowing millions to access services for the first time. In fact, by 2028, 167.2 million people previously excluded from the financial system could have bank accounts.
This level of inclusion through a single payment system is a boon not only for society but also for banks – it translates to an entirely new customer base and increased profit potential. Markets like France, Italy and Spain, for instance, represent significant profit opportunities resulting from the growth of instant payment rails, with potential gains reaching up to $571 million in Italy alone by 2028. As European payment systems mature and interoperability improves, the movement of money will become faster, cheaper and more accessible across borders. Put simply, with more money moving hands—and doing so faster—banks can earn more.
On a societal level, instant payments allow people to manage their finances with greater control and transparency and are anticipated to boost financial inclusion among three key demographic groups: younger people (aged 18-24 years), women and people in lower-income groups.
Instant payments present many opportunities for citizens to better manage their day-to-day liquidity. For example, a woman running a small market bakery displays a QR code at her stall to receive instant payments from customers. She receives instant notifications of each sale, giving her a real-time view of her income. With this, she can quickly reorder ingredients or manage her finances without the delays of traditional payment processing.
Instant payments also bring digital inclusion, bridging the gap between underserved communities and the modern digital economy. This is more than a technological upgrade – it’s a fundamental transformation of financial systems. And it’s one that offers economic participation at an unprecedented scale. Therefore, the EU’s IPR should not be viewed as a compliance burden but as an opportunity. It’s an invitation to embrace innovation, expand market reach and build a less-biased financial ecosystem.
A win-win for all
The financial landscape in Europe is undoubtedly facing turbulent times. While the IPR might initially appear as another wave in an already stormy sea, to view it solely as a burden is to miss the horizon. Instant payments are a strategic path forward, driving profound economic growth, expanding financial inclusion to millions of people and propelling European society and economies into the future.
Therefore, rather than bracing for impact ahead of the October 2025 deadline, EU financial institutions should see the IPR as an invitation to change course and set sail in a new direction – one that’s more inclusive and guided by the ‘compass’ of instant payments. Financial institutions that embrace future-ready solutions will emerge more agile and competitive, paving the way for a more inclusive and prosperous financial future.