Petra Tschudin, Thomas Moser: Fast and available round the clock - what instant payments mean for households, companies and financial institutions

Speech by Ms Petra Tschudin, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, and Mr Thomas Moser, Alternate Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Money Market Event, Zurich, 10 April 2025.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome to the Swiss National Bank's Money Market Event. My colleague Thomas Moser and I are delighted to be discussing the latest developments in Switzerland's cashless payments landscape this evening.

Since last year, bank customers in our country have been able to make transfers that are executed immediately. The amounts are credited within seconds, every day of the week and round the clock. In our speech, we will explore the significance of these instant payments for households, companies and financial institutions.

To illustrate the relevance of this topic, it is worth reflecting briefly on our everyday lives. Consumer behaviour has changed considerably in many areas. Thanks to online shopping and streaming services, we have grown accustomed to being able to consume quickly and at any time. You know the situation: We order a pizza online from the comfort of our living room in the evening, and it is delivered within half an hour. We have come to take this for granted. And yet, surprisingly, the physical delivery of the pizza is much faster than the electronic transfer of the money to the pizzeria. The payment that we trigger when we click 'Order' takes longer than you might think; indeed, it can take several days – or even weeks – for the money to arrive on the pizzeria's account.

Types of cashless payment and the benefits of instant payments

Why is this? The lag in payment settlement is due to the fact that legacy settlement mechanisms cannot keep up with the pace of modern business. A look at the structure of the financial system helps to better contextualise and understand what changes instant payments bring.