Dr Ferenc Gerhardt
Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank in charge of the project coordinating the introduction of the instant payment system until 22 April 2019
If it does not move around, money is worth nothing All the players in economic and social life are interested in money, the consideration received for their activities and work, being exchanged as fast and at as low a cost as possible. The state is the largest payer and collector of payments, and it relies heavily on the steady, reliable and time-bound flow of payments. The two keywords are therefore speed and infallibility. From a technical perspective, we can do almost anything, but we cannot create time, only use the existing amount as fully as possible. Having acquired GIRO Rt. from the banks that owned it in the spring of 2014, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank requested the company to acquire these two qualities as soon and as fully as possible. First, from September 2015, in the context of steadily diminishing prices, there were ten cycles when money could be transferred. The necessity and possibility of a payment system available on 24/7/365 basis was already mooted back then. After looking at international examples and taking into account the potential solutions in Hungary, it was decided that the central infrastructure for instant payments should be established in GIRO Zrt. The decision enabled the attainment of the MNB’s strategic objectives: keeping the most important
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