Swiss National Bank and SIX Launch New Instant Payments Solution

The Swiss National Bank and SIX Interbank Clearing have launched a new instant payments solution in Switzerland.

This solution enables 60 financial institutions to receive and process instant payments as of Tuesday (Aug. 20), the Swiss National Bank said in a Wednesday (Aug. 21) press release.

The new instant payments service will be expanded to all financial institutions active in retail payment transactions by the end of 2026, according to the release.

The 60 financial institutions already handling instant payments cover more than 95% of Swiss retail payment transactions, the release said.

With this new solution, private individuals and companies can perform account-to-account (A2A) transactions that are executed and settled in seconds, at any time, including on public holidays, per the release.

“This offers significant advantages for individuals, companies and commercial banks,” the Swiss National Bank said in the release. “Thanks to shorter settlement chains, risks are reduced and funds received are available immediately. For companies and commercial banks, instant payments expand opportunities for automating processes and linking with other services.”

The Swiss National Bank added in the release that traditional transfers will still be possible, that the bank and SIX Interbank Clearing expect instant payments to become established in Switzerland in the medium term, and that they are committed to the future of cashless payments in the country.

SIX previewed the launch of the new instant payment service in a Jan. 16 press release, saying that the service supports the future viability of payment traffic in Switzerland and will provide solutions to both Swiss consumers and businesses.

“Benefits include the immediate availability of incoming funds, e.g. even during off-peak hours or weekends,” SIX said in its press release. “This creates more scope for process automation, simplifies liquidity management and reduces settlement risk.”

This new real-time payments scheme, named SIC5, complements Switzerland’s existing TWINT system, according to the September edition of “The Real-Time Payments World Map,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and The Clearing House collaboration.

The country saw 377 million real-time payments transactions in 2022, and that number is expected to rise to 1.4 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 29%, per the report.