United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), part of the Belgian financial group KBC, has introduced a new service – SEPA Instant Transfers - enabling the effecting of blink fund transfers in the euro currency within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). With this step UBB ensures even faster and easier banking for both its individual and business customers as they can order blink fund transfers to more than 2 700 banks in 23 countries.

„Through the new instant transfer service we supplement and expand the options our customers have for use of blink transfers. They can now effect blink fund transfers also in the euro currency, within 10 seconds, regardless of the ordering time, in 23 countries from the EU and the EEA. This will enable them to work in real time and use much more efficiently the opportunities, provided by the constantly growing European digital economy.“, shared Tatyana Ivanova, Executive Director Digitalization, Data and Operations at UBB and Innovation Leader of KBC Group in Bulgaria.

The SEPA Instant Transfers service is accessible through the UBB Mobile app, the online banking functionality UBB Online and through Open Banking. It allows for effecting of fund transfers in euro within just a few seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including also during weekends and official holidays. The maximum fund transfer amount is EUR 15 000.

Customers will see whether they can send a SEPA Instant Transfer when they enter the fund transfer data in the respective UBB platform. If the bank, servicing the beneficiary individual or legal entity, does not maintain the instant transfer service, customers will be able to remit a standard SEPA fund transfer in euro. SEPA Instant Transfers is being offered in accordance with the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme of the European Payment Council in the EU and EEA countries, meaning that the beneficiary’s bank should also be offering the service.

SEPA Instant Transfers supplement the existing service for blink payments in Bulgarian leva to a mobile number blink P2P and enable customers to manage their fund transfers in euro in an even more flexible way. The new service has a fixed fee, which is the same as for a standard SEPA transfer. Instant transfers in euro are available also for business customers of the Bank, in case they do not require additional documents as per the Currency Act.