Europe plans making money transfers faster and cheaper, financial services offer 0.3-1% rates
Increasing the speed and bringing down the expenses are among top objectives of the cross-border payments market right now. Piero Cipollone, member of the ECB’s Executive Board (European Central Bank), outlined the priorities just last week; the man is also an avid proponent of the digital euro currency.
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2025/html/ecb.sp250401~9e1ee05e88.en.html
In recent years, Europe’s average transfer rates have been fluctuating rather radically: with the sum’s 5% in 2019, raised to 8.4% in 2023, ECB’s now discussing the 3% figure. Still, the 3% rate is considered a bit excessive, so they promise it will go down eventually. Cipollone often quotes the Western Balkans’ inflated rate of 6.7%, while the African is even higher – 7.7%. In lieu of such disparities, he urges the European system to update its payment capabilities. Another factor in favor of the sped-up improvement is the growing volumes: by 2030, the European Central Bank expects the cross-border transfers to double across the world, amounting to €268 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Old-World officials vouch to accelerate the developments, quoting the stats from 2024: according to data, over 1/3 of all cross-border transfers has been delayed by at least one business day, which presented a string of problems combined with excessive fees:
- First, high cost and slow transaction times undermine the economic integration effort and potential growth as such. Small and medium-sized enterprises, the backbone of many economies, have to bear the disproportionate weight since they operate at low margins.
- Second, the most vulnerable groups, like the migrating workers that send money home, are greatly affected by the higher costs. Money transfers to families back home is that life-saving straw that keeps millions of households worldwide afloat. According to the data at ECB’s disposal, every nineth person on the planet relies on money transfers from oversees.
Based on this knowledge, the European authorities are set to further improve their instant payment system and help it grow more available via digitalization. Again, according to the European Central Bank, over 100 jurisdictions globally have implemented instant payment systems of their own. This significantly facilitates bringing the costs down and increasing the transactions speed without the need to include several payment systems and unnecessary chain of corresponding banks.
As an example, a unique European payment landscape is presented: account holders can move their funds 24/7 via TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS). The key advantage is that it’s a multi-currency platform performing instant payments through the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme, regulated by the unified rules, standards and protocols, which brings the fragmentation risks to a minimum. ECB notes that Sweden is already using TIPS to process instant payments in Swedish krona, with Denmark following the example in April 2025, and Norway in 2028. ECB promises to find common ground with even more instant payment systems worldwide, citing several irrefutable benefits of such a decision:
- Within TIPS, a cross-currency settlement service will be first launched in Europe, later expanding globally through cooperation with many other instant payment systems.
- European regulators pledge to explore the potential to involvement of TIPS in a multilateral network of instant payment systems through the Nexus project led by the Bank for International Settlements. Once connected to Nexus, TIPS could emerge as a processing center for instant cross-border payments to/from the Eurozone and other countries that use TIPS.
- Finally, the European system evaluates the possibility of creating a two-way connection with India’s UPI (Unified Payments Interface). UPI showcases the world’s largest volumes of instant transfers – roughly 500 million operation per day, as the subcontinent is among the top-10 recipients of remittance from Europe.
And more benefits of the European instant transfers are on the way. Particularly, should you opt out of traditional banks with intricate and pricey bureaucracy coming off your end. Instead, you can dive into the fast-growing market of the specialized financial operators that have been doing really well as of late. Among the reasons why they strive are jumping on the instant payment systems bandwagon and reducing their rates to 1% and even 0.3% eventually. And, the cherry on top, the services are constantly evolving, appealing not just to ordinary folk, but all kinds of business ventures as well.
One illustrious example is the British-based service Sends, HQ-ed in London: an authorized provider of financial services licensed by the UK FCA Electronic Money Institutions since 2017. The company can effectively work with both small business and bigger fish in the pond, offering the most in-demand services for all: payout to cards, currency exchange, internet acquiring, personal and business accounts.
Sends is connected to SEPA payments, allowing its clientele relocate funds 24/7/365; the UK customers can specifically enjoy Faster Payments, with the money also moving without a hitch 24/7/365 (the longest wait never exceeds 2 hours). Those in favor of traditional transaction methods can stick to the preferred SWIFT that usually delivers the funds somewhere between 1 and 5 days depending on the location and the recipient. With all that, every client has full access to Apple Pay/Google Pay, along with IBAN, of course. The selection is rich, custom designed for the needs and wants of anyone.
This payment service quickly processes all the client’s paperwork, helping them pass the financial monitoring effortlessly, as the company’s specialists provide the timely support. Sends opens multi-currency accounts in three central currencies – USD, EUR, GBP. All it takes is an extract from the company register and detailed information on the enterprise, its business and beneficiaries.
Once the account is opened, the company’s head or the accountant are granted access to a merchant cabinet, where all the financial paperwork is stored (deeds, invoices, receipts). This feature does come in handy when you draft the tax report in a drop of a hat.
Sends also helps you track business expenses, including all domestic and foreign accounts – a feature that modern business-making is hard to imagine without in this day and age. For it allows any entrepreneur instantly get access to all operations and stay in touch with business partners. All the wages will be paid on time, as this feature is fully adjustable and automated. You can save a small fortune, literally, on hiring legal assistance: Sends has readymade templates of all kinds of contracts so that you can handle your business with fewer outsiders involved.
Still, with that much innovative solutions already available to clientele, Sends never ceases improvement by expanding its partnership networks and introducing new range of services. For example, the accounting app XERO will be shortly integrated into Sends, with a referral system in the works, enabling the effective inclusion of the interested partners.
You can have it all online, wasting no precious time in the bank queues, as the old-timers try to monetize every little service on offer, divorcing you from more of your hard-earned money. Sends, on the other hand, offers an array of options and services at extremely reasonable rates of 0.3-1% of the transfer’s amount.