Drive for efficiency takes instant from niche to norm in the netherlands
The Netherlands was a pioneer in instant payments, having been an early adopter of Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) to meet evolving market dynamics — and opportunities embedded into the Netherlands’ most popular P2P and eCommerce use cases, making them the “new normal” for Dutch consumers. Almost all single credit transfers between Dutch banks are now instant. With the new Instant Payments Regulation starting in 2024, the rest of the EU can learn from the Netherlands’ example.
The Netherlands is ranked #4 in Europe for instant payments transaction volume. In 2023, more than 1.3 billion instant payments transactions were made, worth US$1.921 trillion. By 2028, this will grow to more than 4.1 billion transactions worth US$10.109 trillion. Instant payments now make up 10.9% of total payments volume in the Netherlands, placing it ahead of paper-based payments, although they are still below the share of other electronic payments.
By 2028, instant payments transaction volume will almost triple to represent 28% of all transactions. As other non-instant electronic payments move to instant payment rails, their share will shrink from 81.2% in 2023 to 66.8% by 2028.
The Netherlands
Real-time transactions
2023 Real-time share of electronic payments
11.8%
2028f
4.2B
2023-2028 CAGR
25.8%
Scheme messaging
ISO 20022
Real-time payment scheme
SCT Inst
2017
Easy-to-use overlays driving P2P as the dominant use case for Dutch consumers
Traditionally credit-averse Dutch consumers have quickly switched from debit card payments to account-to-account-based payments, especially for P2P transactions, rapidly establishing instant payments as the new format.
The popularity of overlay services such as Tikkie, Request to Pay and Share to Pay, representing most of the country’s P2P payments, plus a gradual shift to the SCT Inst rails, continues to support growth.
Other use cases continue to emerge as financial institutions shift legacy systems to instant settlement. This includes Dutch direct debits, more iDEAL services, Request to Pay and QR-code payments.
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