New provisions on immediate transfer from 1 April 2024

As of 1 April 2024, the decree of the Hungarian National Bank on the processing of payment transactions has been amended, which particularly affects the process of immediate transfers. The beneficiary may, based on an agreement with the payment service provider, initiate an immediate transfer to the payer in the form of a ‘payment request’ submitted for forwarding to the payment service provider. The amount of the immediate transfer order does not exceed HUF 20 million and does not incur a financial transaction duty liability.

The new provisions entered into force on 1 April 2024 detail especially the process of the immediate transfer. For instance, under the new regulations, if the payer’s payment service provider makes available to the payer any payment instrument enabling the initiation of an immediate transfer order, it must also inform the payer of the payment request without delay by means of a separate notification, in particular by means of the payment instrument available on the portable multifunctional device (i.e. tablet, smartphone, smart watch and bracelet). The payer may exclude this information by means of an express, separate statement. The payer’s payment service provider must notify the beneficiary’s payment service provider about the sending of the payment request to the payer or of its rejection within five seconds of receipt of the payment request, which must inform the beneficiary of the rejection without delay. In the event of a shortage of funds for an immediate transfer order initiated with a payment request, the payment service provider of the payer must provide the payer with the possibility to initiate and approve a new immediate transfer order with the same payment request during the validity period of the payment request. In case of an immediate transfer initiated by a payment request, the payment service provider of the payer must inform the payment service provider of the beneficiary of the completion of the payment transaction within five seconds of receipt of the information from the payment service provider of the beneficiary. The payment service provider of the beneficiary must, without delay after receipt of the information, notify the beneficiary of the completion of the immediate transfer order initiated by the payment request.

The payment request service can be used in a variety of situations, such as bill payments, online or physical purchases, or even when sending money between individuals, thus providing another opportunity to use electronic payments, including instant payments.