Coming Soon: SEPA Instant

23 June, 2025

Important Changes to Payment Services

The implementation of the SEPA Instant Credit Transfers Regulation 2024  in Ireland has led to important updates of our Framework Contract. These updates affect all accounts that use an IBAN (International Bank Account Number), including current accounts.

Here’s what is changing and what it means for you.

SEPA Instant Payments

A new service called SEPA Instant Payments will make it faster and easier to send and receive money in euro.

  • Fast Transfers: Payments will go through in just 10 seconds.
  • Always Available: You can send or receive money anytime, including weekends and bank holidays.
  • No Extra Fees: There are no new charges to use SEPA Instant Payments.

It’s worth noting that SEPA Instant Payments can only be used for euro transfers to accounts within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

You’ve been able to receive SEPA Instant Payments since 9 January 2025 and from 1 September 2025, you’ll also be able to send payments, with all financial institutions expected to support this by 9 October 2025.

New Safety Feature: Verification of Payee (VOP)

A new security step, called Verification of Payee (VOP), will be introduced by the latest 9th October 2025.

This feature will check if the name you provide for the person or business you’re paying matches the name linked to their IBAN. It will do this when you add someone as a payee, make a payment, or when someone sends a payment to you. This extra layer of security is designed to reduce errors and protect against mistakes.

Need More Information?

We’ve updated our framework contract to reflect these changes. You can download it now from our website at www.1cu.ie.

If you’re happy with these changes, there’s nothing you need to do. If you’re not, you have a couple of options:

  1. You can keep your accounts but lose access to your savings IBAN (Your loan account will retain it’s IBAN); or
  2. You can chose to to close your account, free of charge before 1 September 2025. After this date, the new terms will apply.

These changes will apply to members accounts and/or services from 1 September 2025.

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