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. he outlook for GDP growth has been revised down by

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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 www. intelligentfin. tech

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