MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK
have to use long payment account numbers, or to create a static QR code, which does not contain the amount of the transaction, in order to facilitate the convenient transfer of payment data. This does not even require the involvement of payment service providers or other technical actors, as the secondary identifier service is just as mandatory as the instant processing in the case of a certain range of transactions, and for generating the QR code there are several free and reliable applications available on the market. The only additional task for merchants is to ensure real-time monitoring of incoming transactions, which is feasible by an SMS-based notification service that can be applied for at the account servicing payment service provider or even by monitoring the transaction history in the mobile banking application. In order to further promote the widespread use of instant payment, key issues are the essential transformation of banks’ pricing structures that affect credit transfers, the implementation of complementary elements relying upon the basic service, such as the request-to-pay service and the QR code-based payment initiation, as well as the facilitation of improvements concerning payment situations at the POI. Payment service providers, merchants with high transaction turnover and bill issuer service providers alike should make efforts for instant payment to become widespread in every payment situation. Accordingly, the wide spreading of instant payments requires an adequate pricing of the service. At the same time, as it is also seen from the description of the pricing practice concerning credit transfers in Chapter 2.2, credit transfers in the case of the majority of customers are still burdened by transaction costs (minimum fees and value-based items), which has an unfavourable impact on the use of this payment method. As a result of that, instant payment is still at a disadvantage compared to international card companies’ payment solutions, in the case of which the majority of payment service providers have been applying a package-based pricing practice for a long time, or compared to cash, the use of which is perceived by customers to be free of charge up to HUF 150 thousand. In connection with that it is indispensable to create account packages that do not contain transaction fees for customers concerning credit transfers either, and to make these packages widely available. In addition to all that, the widest possible implementation of QR code-based payment initiation and the request-topay service is also a critical issue. As indicated above as well, although development projects were launched, the majority of banks still do not provide the related services for customers. For instant payment to be a really relevant option in all payment situations it is necessary that mobile banking applications allow at least a convenient and simple reading of QR codes and the initiation of instant payments based
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PAYMENT SYSTEMS REPORT • JULY 2021
on that, as well as the receiving and answering of requestto-pay messages. This is also an essential precondition of the arrangement of acceptance by merchants in situations where the introduction of the new payment method needs to be adjusted to integrated cash register systems and complex accounting programmes. Nevertheless, the implementation of the above is the interest of market players as well, because it may result in a significant competitive disadvantage if someone does not put (sufficient) emphasis on instant payment, with which many cash transactions may be made electronic. In addition to the implementation of the improvements it is also important to adequately inform customers about the available options as experience shows that although most people heard about the service, they are not aware of the details and opportunities. In addition to payment service providers, merchants and bill issuer service providers, which have many customers, may also contribute to the spreading of instant payment by making its use possible for their customers. Namely, improvements implemented by some market participants may already make the new payment option available for a significant number of people. This, however, requires the provision of detailed information to these institutions and the mapping of their possibilities.
4.2 EUROPEAN REGULATORY, STRATEGICAL AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES On 24 September 2020, the European Commission published its digital finance package, the objective of which is to support the financial sector of the European Union and the related innovative pan-European development initiatives by formulating an agile regulatory framework. The Commission’s package contains a digital finance strategy and a retail payments strategy as well as various draft regulatory proposals related, inter alia, to crypto-assets, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and to increasing the operational resilience of financial infrastructures. The objective of the European Commission is to strengthen the competitiveness of the financial sector of the EU, to adapt a set of rules that is able to better adjust to the continuously changing environment as well as to promote consumer protection, financial stability and access to innovative financial products. Within the framework of that, the issues put on the agenda include the addressing of market fragmentation and the ensuring of obstacle-free access to cross-border services, the wide-ranging enforcement of the principle ‘same activity, same risk, same rules’, the supporting of the spreading of instant payments, which would be underpinned in case of necessity by a statutory requirement concerning the mandatory introduction of euro-based instant payments, as well as allowing non-bank actors to have access to critical
