Dr Csaba Kandrács
Deputy Governor (Financial Institutions Supervision and Consumer Protection), Magyar Nemzeti Bank
Hungarian payments on a new footing: Regulatory recollection of the instant payment project Through the Financial Stability Council, the deputy governor’s office at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, including myself, familiarised itself with the concept of the instant payment system at the inception stage of this unparalleled project. The idea was not only ambitious but also futuristic. The goal was to establish a new payments infrastructure that could transfer up to HUF 10 million from one customer to another in five seconds. What is more, this was envisaged to be available on a 24/7/365 basis. Joining the scheme was foreseen as compulsory rather than voluntary. It was clear that this decision would lay new foundations for Hungarian payments, foundations that we can proudly look back on all our lives. For supervisory areas, the focus on the instant payment system started at a well-defined moment, when, on 10 June 2018, Executive Director Lajos Bartha introduced the plans and tasks related to the introduction of the system at a Supervisory Workshop. In front of an audience that filled the entire large conference room on Krisztina körút, he spoke about the importance and progressive nature of the project from the perspective of Hungarian payments. In addition to the aim of establishing instant payments, he mentioned the issues related to monitoring the preparations and the planned implementation of liquidity management. The Supervisory Workshop raised numerous questions, and then more and more expert consultations were held among the colleagues working at the Szabadság tér headquarters and at the regulatory area in the Krisztina körút building, at the level
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