The instant payment infrastructure, developed and maintained by Latvijas Banka, has been operating since 28 August 2017. Instant payments have become a normal payment service and bank customers no longer have to think about bank business days and business hours when making their interbank payments: they are executed instantly 24/7/365.
According to statistics compiled by Latvijas Banka, 2.4 million instant payments amounting to 494 million euro were made in Latvia in 2018.
On business days, the highest intensity of instant payments is observed at midday; nevertheless, instant payments are also made outside business hours, inter alia at weekends and on holidays: their number is smaller, but the payment intensity flow is on average steady throughout the day and also at night. This shows that the availability of instant payments also at weekends and on holidays is a really necessary, customer-oriented and user-friendly feature.
The number of instant payments has surged since October 2018 when they became available to Swedbank AS customers. At this stage, already over 90% of the customers of Latvian commercial banks have access to instant payments. Instant payments are executed by Latvijas Banka, and Swedbank AS, AS Citadele banka and AS SEB banka also provide this service to their customers. Instant payments can be made to a number of other euro area banks as well (for the list of those banks, see https://www.ebaclearing.eu/services/instant-payments/participants/).
The Baltic States and Latvia in particular are the euro area leaders in implementation of the instant payments infrastructure. With instant payments continuing to develop, commercial banks and financial sector companies can soon be expected to start offering their customers an option to execute instant payments based on their mobile phone number only; without having to enter the customer account's IBAN number for every payment. Latvijas Banka maintains the IBAN Register storing the IBAN numbers of customer accounts and mobile phone links. The IBAN Register was established as part of the EKS, the electronic clearing system of Latvijas Banka, and can be used for executing instant payments as well as other payments, including intrabank payments, more easily.
The development of instant payments will help consumers significantly save their time and provide various ways of better managing their finances, including an opportunity to use instant payments at points of sale and in online shopping or e-commerce in the future. This innovative financial service will also support the development of the financial sector and improve the competitiveness of businesses operating in this sector.