Payments that settle within seconds, at any hour, including weekends and public holidays, rather than in batches on working days.
Switzerland launched instant payments on 20 August 2024, on the SIC5 platform operated by SIX for the Swiss National Bank. Institutions that handled more than 500,000 incoming customer payments in 2020 had to be able to receive them from that date, covering over 95% of Swiss customer payments; the remaining institutions follow by the end of 2026.
An important nuance: receiving instant payments is compulsory, while sending them remains optional and is often charged. Elsewhere, the equivalent schemes are SEPA Instant in the euro area and Faster Payments in the UK.
The shift matters for reconciliation: when funds and the account statement arrive together, matching a payment to an invoice stops being an end-of-day exercise.
