Real-time transfers: safe and fast with Bank Austria
Execute or receive a euro payment within the SEPA region within only ten seconds.
The payment is immediately credited to the account of the payee, who can then dispose of the funds. Real-time transfers can be carried out within the SEPA region day and night, 365 days a year. Bulk payments can also be executed as real-time transfers.
Changes effective from October 2025
The Instant Payments Regulation took effect on 5 October 2025, together with the option of verifying the payee, and the removal of the amount limit when making a real-time transfer.
The real-time transfer for Bank Austria customers
Bank Austria customers can receive real-time transfers on euro-denominated payment accounts. The transfer is immediately shown in the online banking list of transactions after the relevant accounting entry has been passed; in line with normal practice, you will see the transfer in your account statement on the next bank business day.
Bank Austria customers can request the execution of real-time transfers in online banking (BusinessNet or 24You) or in the MobileBanking app and the BusinessNet app. Corporate customers have the option of setting their own limit for real-time transfer amounts. There are no additional costs compared with SEPA standard transfers.
Bulk payments can in future also be executed as real-time transfers.
Benefits
- Instantaneous: your payment is shown in the payee’s list of transactions within ten seconds.
- Prompt availability: the payee can dispose of the transferred funds immediately.
- Day and night: real-time transfers can be executed 24/7, 365 days a year.
- Swift and safe in the Internet: suitable for use as a payment system in your webshop.
Requirements
A requirement for the execution and receipt of real-time transfers is that both the payer and the payee maintain an account with a bank in the SEPA region which participates in the SEPA Instant Payment Programme (since 8 January 2025, all banks in the SEPA region are required to be capable of receiving real-time transfers).
- Payments within the SEPA region.
- Limit: you have the possibility of setting an individual limit.
- Transfers only in EURO.
Verification of payee for corporate customers
Every transfer will involve an automatic verification of the payee: the name of the payee indicated is compared with the name of the account holder of the specified IBAN. The result of this comparison is displayed before the payment is released – this procedure will reduce the number of erroneous transfers. Results of payee verification.
The payee verification procedure can have four possible outcomes:
The name entered by you matches the payee’s name
The name of the payee entered by you is identical with the owner of the payee account.
Close match in the name of the payee
The name of the payee entered by you closely matches the name of the owner of the payee account and is correctly displayed in the result of the verification procedure.
Example:
Payee’s name that was entered: A. N. Othre
Verification result: A. N. Other
In such case we recommend that you again reconcile the details with the payee.
No match with the name of the payee
The name of the payee entered by you does NOT match the name of the owner of the payee account.
In such case we recommend that you again reconcile the details with the payee.
Payee verification not applicable
It was not possible to verify the payee (e.g. if the account has been closed or in the event of a technical problem, etc.).
We recommend that you again reconcile the details with the payee or try again later.
What is the purpose of payee verification when making a transfer?
- Regardless of the response you receive as feedback: The payments can always be authorised, even if the status is “close match” (the name of the payee almost matches that of the owner of the payee account), “no match” (the name of the payee does not match that of the owner of the payee account) or “not applicable” (payee verification not possible).
- With regard to online banking products, we are obliged to initiate the payee verification process in cases involving a manual request for specific transactions, e.g. in online banking for Corporate Customers and Independent Professionals “BusinessNet”, and the result of the verification process is shown before the payment is authorised.
Payee verification for corporate customers
- Payee verification takes place before a transfer is finally signed.
- When making bulk payments, corporate customers have the option of an opt-out, i.e. they can choose to waive the payee verification service. The system also offers the possibility to save this function at account level, whereby the customer’s wish for the payee verification service to be centrally deactivated can be taken into account.
- In the case of products (e.g. BusinessLine, Multicash, UCeBanking) which use EBICS (Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard), implementation of the payee verification or opt-out procedures takes place via the relevant communications parameters.
- The feedback by the payee is transmitted via the pain.002 status report.
