Revolut is the first mainstream financial services provider in the Republic of Ireland to introduce this payment technology.
It doesn’t seem to be that long ago when we were discussing the latest innovation from leading fintech Revolut, and that’s because it wasn’t!
The online bank is working around the clock to bring its customers the best and most up-to-date technology to help meet their day-to-day banking needs, and their most recent announcement is much of the same.
Revolut today announced it has become the first mainstream financial service provider to begin offering instant Euro-area bank transfers to its 1 million-strong customer base here.
The details
From today, all Revolut customers in Ireland will be able to send money to banks and financial institutions across Europe in a matter of seconds.
The quick money transfer is facilitated and made possible through the implementation of what's called SEPA Instant Payment technology and is not available to customers of any other traditional Irish bank, as of yet.
Revolut customers already have the ability to send euros to other Revolut users abroad, instantly, and without incurring any charge, but before today it wasn't possible to instantly transfer funds to a separate European bank account.
The new SEPA system will be of particular interest to customers of Revolut in Ireland who want to send money to someone in Europe who does not currently use Revolut.
Up until now, customers and businesses had to wait for one or two days for traditional money transfers to clear when sending euros to other European bank accounts. And even longer if money was sent at the weekend.
As it stands, more than 2,200 payment service providers across Europe have already adopted the payment technology.
This news follows similar news from mid-June which saw the fintech become the only mainstream financial services provider in Ireland to offer Open Banking, allowing customers to oversee all their traditional bank accounts through one app.
Speaking about the news, Product Owner for Core Payments at Revolut, Jason Pijnaker said:
“Every year people and businesses in Ireland send millions of Euro in bank transfers to financial institutions in Europe: but the payment system they use is slow and cumbersome, often taking days for the money to arrive.
"Now with SEPA Instant, Revolut’s Irish customers can send euros across the rest of the EU in seconds to more than 2,200 payment institutions. It’s just another example of Revolut using modern technology to make our customers’ lives easier and simpler - and give them greater control over their own money.”
To see the list of institutions that support SEPA payments just click here.
How it works
It’s easy to start availing of the instant payment feature if you’re already a Revolut customer. All you have to do is the following.
- Get the latest version of the app
- Click ‘Send’ from the ‘Accounts’ tab as you normally would
- Select ‘Bank Accounts’ on the top menu to select the European account you would like to lodge money to
- Type in the amount
- Hit ‘Send’
- You’re done
The new functionality is equally as useful for regular day-to-day banking customers as it is for business customers.
Below is a good example from Revolut of how the instant payment service can be utilised effectively for both customers and businesses.
Example
Take for example a Dublin business, which receives an order from Holland on a Friday afternoon for immediate dispatch, but wants to wait until it has received payment before sending the goods.
Before it would have taken between one and two days for payment to be received, so this order would only be dispatched on Monday despite the order being placed a number of days previously.
The introduction of SEPA Instant technology however facilitates instant order processing as the Dutch customer’s payment can be received immediately and without delay by the Irish business.
This works the exact same for individual banking customers who want to send and receive funds from friends, family or colleagues working or living somewhere else in Europe.
Is your money safe with Revolut?
Revolut is currently operating in Ireland under an e-money licence that it has passported over from the UK, which is in turn licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over there.
Revolut did receive a full banking licence in Lithuania in late 2018 and under EU passporting rules is able to transfer that licence to another EU country without having to get full regulatory approval all over again.
However, Revolut hasn’t received a banking licence yet from the Bank of England, nor the Central Bank here, so is operating in both countries under the aforementioned e-money licence.
In short, because Revolut is working from an e-money licence in Ireland and not a banking one, the Deposit Guarantee Scheme or its UK version, do not apply to Revolut customers here or across the pond.
Revolut does have safeguarding procedures in place for its customers however, whereby customer money is deposited into a client money bank account, which they hold on behalf of customers.
Where Irish customers are concerned, money is held with Lloyds in the UK, where, in the event that Revolut were to become insolvent, customers would be top priority over creditors when it comes to getting their money back.
For a full explainer on how Revolut operates, and what security you have should the worst happen, check out our in-depth analysis of Revolut by clicking here.
Let us know your thoughts
What do you think of the latest news from Revolut? Do you think you’ll make use of the instant payment technology announced today? We’d love to hear from you.
You can leave us a message in the comments section below or you can reach out to us over on social media via Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
