With instant payments being a current driver for economic growth, Craig Ramsey, Head of Account-to-Account Payments at ACI Worldwide, takes a look at the impact of instant payments and how they are set to boost global GDP growth, allowing millions to access services for the first time
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.
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 has 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.
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 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 US$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.
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 US$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.
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
- People in lower-income groups
A win-win for all
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.
