Irish banks’ planned money transfer app delayed further by Central Bank move

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NoRegretsCoyote

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A plan by Irish retail banks to launch a money-transfer app to rival Revolut and N26 has hit another hurdle as the Central Bank has now informed them that service must be authorised by the regulator.

Synch Payments, the company behind the banks’ joint venture, said that it will be next year before the service is launched.
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See story

Edit: link fixed.
 
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Why they haven't scrapped this rediculous idea, and just adopted SEPA Instant, like most other European Banks, is beyond me.

It's even more rediculous then years ago, when the Irish Banks decided to create Laser Debit Cards, while most other Western countries were adopting either Visa or Madtercard's debit card offerings.
 
MrEarl said:
Why they haven't scrapped this rediculous idea, and just adopted SEPA Instant, like most other European Banks, is beyond me.
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I don’t know why Irish banks are so slow on instant payments for normal credit transfers.

The project above is I assume designed to work by way of integration into the apps of BoI, AIB, and ptsb. It’s something they should’ve done a decade ago but the cost-cutting across the industry then the exit of Ulster and KBC probably didn’t help this kind of project .

In the meantime half the country is using Revolut for instant payments and the legacy three will find it hard to catch up.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
I don’t know why Irish banks are so slow on instant payments for normal credit transfers.

The project above is I assume designed to work by way of integration into the apps of BoI, AIB, and ptsb. It’s something they should’ve done a decade ago but the cost-cutting across the industry then the exit of Ulster and KBC probably didn’t help this kind of project .

In the meantime half the country is using Revolut for instant payments and the legacy three will find it hard to catch up.
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It is far too late. If they had done this before Revolut got big here it could have worked and stopped Revolut getting the foothold it did. But now it really doesn't have much of a chance. If you have Revolut, why would you sign up for this? What does it offer over Revolut? From what I can see, nothing. If you don't have Revolut, why would you sign up for this instead of Revolut? Everyone and they're bloody dog is on Revolut so for easy payments to people Revolut is the better option.

If they want to take on Revolut, they should really focus on stopping people switching to Revolut for day to day banking. They still have a chance at that. Make their apps good, introduce SEPA instant, reduce fees, etc. Maybe even find a way to make it easy to transfer to other banks without having to install a separate app. Of course, they won't do any of this and 10 years from now they'll wonder why we all use Revolut/N26 and all the other newer banks for day to day banking, savings, loans etc and they are struggling to retain and gain customers.
 
Connard said:
If they want to take on Revolut, they should really focus on stopping people switching to Revolut for day to day banking. They still have a chance at that. Make their apps good, introduce SEPA instant, reduce fees, etc
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I agree the apps leave a lot to be desired compared to Revolut, N26, etc. Instant payments in SEPA are likely to become legally the default in the next few years and it's bizarre that Irish banks are so behind.

I use Revolut as a wallet but at personal level there is simplicity in having a single bank account however and ability to make instant transfers to other Irish account holders via app would be a help. If it's done well it should support instant payments via QR as well. There are a few use cases for this, in particular merchants with occasional use or low turnover who don't want to deal with cash. Think sporting events, farmers' markets, takeaway trucks, charity collections, etc, where they don't want to cost and hassle of a card terminal. You have a QR code and the customer scans it, keys in the amount, and shows you the confirmation.

Anyway I hope they get this right as it could be a very nice feature.
 
ClubMan said:
This one isn't paywalled at the moment...
www.independent.ie

More delays for Synch, Irish banks’ rival to Revolut

More problems have beset a rival to payments app Revolut being set up by Irish banks, after the firm behind the initiative has been told it needs clearance under EU rules.
www.independent.ie www.independent.ie
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Thanks, none the wiser as to why approval would take until next year. Or are Synch using this as an excuse for slow rollout.
 
This kind of entreprise was always going to need supervisory approval as it fits the description of a payment institution under EU law.

I am speculating but this story could be cover for technical or governance delays in set-up.

I would imagine building an IT platform that interfaces in real time the legacy systems of the three banks is not at all simple.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
I agree the apps leave a lot to be desired compared to Revolut, N26, etc. Instant payments in SEPA are likely to become legally the default in the next few years and it's bizarre that Irish banks are so behind.

I use Revolut as a wallet but at personal level there is simplicity in having a single bank account however and ability to make instant transfers to other Irish account holders via app would be a help. If it's done well it should support instant payments via QR as well. There are a few use cases for this, in particular merchants with occasional use or low turnover who don't want to deal with cash. Think sporting events, farmers' markets, takeaway trucks, charity collections, etc, where they don't want to cost and hassle of a card terminal. You have a QR code and the customer scans it, keys in the amount, and shows you the confirmation.

Anyway I hope they get this right as it could be a very nice feature.
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I am the same as you. I don't use Revolut for my day to day banking but I do use it for day to day spending spending. Wages, rent, bills, savings are all with legacy banks. I considered going to Revolut for day to day banking but too many horror stories of accounts getting blocked put me off.

For all those scenarios you outline, why would any one choose Synch over Revolut? Revolut does all that but has 2 million Irish customers now and numerous foreign tourists would have it too. Synch will have a very small user base when it launches and for a while after it. Sure they could set up both but why bother when the few people who have Synch will probably have Revolut as well.
 
Also, Revolut already enables instant transfers not just among Revolut users but also between them and other fintech banks such as Bunq and N26. Those who have an Irish current account because of their mortgage will keep it no matter what. Others have already left and a third group is slowly leaving the planet. So it's hard to see what the customer base for this integrated payments app might be.
 
I have Revolut and N26. N26 charge for top-up and SEPA transfer from AIB takes at best case hours, and sometime over a day, and you have to do it from the desktop site. So I top-up Revolut (instant, free) and then SEPA to N26 (also instant).
 
tomdublin said:
So it's hard to see what the customer base for this integrated payments app might be.
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I think the vast majority of Irish adults with any material wealth still have a depository relationship with BoI, AIB, and ptsb. I do for various reasons and won't be changing any time soon. So I think once Synch has decent functionality it will get users simply by virtue of this.

There is use case (see above) for instant payments via QR code across a range of situations. It's already up and running in other parts of Europe and the technology is off the shelf - integration with BoI, AIB, and ptsb is most likely the issue.

I find manual entry of IBANs is a complete pain as well and a well-accepted instant payments system via app and QR code is the kind of thing that would be very welcome for lots of businesses once it can be integrated into their billing system. Banks can also cut out interchange fees they have to pay to card schemes. Also government entities, hospitals, utitlies, etc will be able to say "pay us via Synch" as it's jointly run by the three native banks in a way they can't say "pay us via Revolut" as it's a single, foreign-owned operator.

Anyway Synch might take off, it might not. Ireland is a small market and AFAIK the costs of the Laser system weren't worth it for the banks to maintain. At the same time cash is dying on its feet and carrying around pieces of plastic seem a bit 20thC as well. Payment via app in your pocket is the future one way or the other.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
cash is dying on its feet and carrying around pieces of plastic seem a bit 20thC as well. Pa
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Not sure you are right about the plastic cards. Seems payment apps in their present form were overhyped and using them isn't any easier or faster than contactless payments with plastic. Seems fewer people are using them now than two years ago.
 
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NoRegretsCoyote said:
I think the vast majority of Irish adults with any material wealth still have a depository relationship with BoI, AIB, and ptsb. I do for various reasons and won't be changing any time soon. So I think once Synch has decent functionality it will get users simply by virtue of this.
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SEPA Instant would be more attractive for punters such as yourself, as it wouldn't require yet another app.
I'm really scratching my head as to what benefit Synch is going to be to anyone?
 
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