SIX and the Swiss National Bank are celebrating the go-live of the new generation of the Swiss payment system, known as SIC5.
Launched today, SIC5 creates the technical prerequisites for the processing of instant payments, enabling electronic customer payments to be made around the clock, seven days a week, and in a matter of seconds.
In other words, instant payments have effectively gone live in the Swiss market, with around 60 financial institutions now able to receive and process instant payments, covering more than 95% of Swiss retail payment transactions.
The benefits of instant payments
The expectation is that, by the end of 2026 at the latest, all financial institutions active in retail payment transactions will be reachable. The first institutions have already launched retail offerings enabling customers to send instant payments. In the coming months, further banks will announce similar services.
“Instant payments” means, in other words, account-to-account transactions with immediate execution and final settlement in seconds – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (including public holidays).
– Advertisement –
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.
Traditional transfers will still be possible. The Swiss National Bank and SIX Interbank Clearing Ltd anticipate that instant payments are likely to become established in Switzerland in the medium term and form the basis for further innovation in payment transactions.
Benefits include the immediate availability of incoming funds, e.g. even during off-peak hours or weekends. This creates more scope for process automation, simplifies liquidity management, and reduces settlement risk.
