Instant payments vs MyBank: what really changes for businesses and payers?

Instant credit transfer vs MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation: what really changes for businesses and payers? 

Among the various options for fast online payments, instant credit transfers and MyBank credit transfers with immediate confirmation may be considered side by side. Although both move funds quickly from one bank account to another, they differ significantly in the way they are initiated, managed and confirmed. 

From the perspective of businesses, Public Administrations, online merchants and payers (both consumers and companies), these differences concern in particular: 

• How the payment is initiated 
• Which data are entered (and by whom) 
• What type of confirmation the payee receives 
• How reconciliation works 
• Which security and irrevocability guarantees are associated with the transaction. 

In this article, we analyse the main differences so that everyone, whether collecting or paying, can better understand when and why an instant credit transfer or a MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation may be the better fit for their needs. 

1. What is a SEPA instant credit transfer? 

The SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is a European payment scheme that enables the transfer of funds: 

• In euro 
• Between accounts located in the SEPA area 
• With funds generally available within a few seconds 
• Potentially 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (subject to the participation and policies of individual banks). 

From the user’s perspective, an instant credit transfer is usually initiated by: 

• Manually entering the beneficiary’s IBAN, amount and payment reference directly in their bank’s online banking or at the bank counter 
• Selecting the “instant” option (where available). 

It is therefore a very fast payment method, designed to transfer money almost in real time, with a high degree of execution certainty once it has been authorised.
The payment is initiated by the debtor, who needs to have the creditor’s account details in order to proceed with the transfer. 

2. What is a MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation? 

MyBank (www.mybank.eu) is a scheme-based pay-by-bank solution that enables individuals, businesses and Public Administrations to make and receive payments online  directly for their bank account via their usual online banking portal, with no additional registrations or new credentials. 

MyBank is based on the following SEPA credit transfer schemes: 

• SCT (standard SEPA Credit Transfer) 
• SCT Inst (SEPA Instant Credit Transfer). 

In practical terms, MyBank turns the traditional credit transfer into an e‑commerce payment method, embedding the credit transfer scheme into a structured digital flow: the payment is initiated from an e‑commerce site, from a corporate or Public Administration portal (including pagoPA scenarios in Italy), or from a payment link sent by the creditor, without any sensitive data sharing.

The key aspect to note is that the credit transfer: 

• Is fully pre-filled (beneficiary, IBAN, amount, payment reference, order/invoice reference) 
• Contains structured data that support automatic reconciliation 
• Is authorised by payers directly with their bank, using their usual credentials and security systems. 

For the payee, a MyBank payment can be seen as an “immediate” credit transfer in the sense that: 

• They receive immediate confirmation of the payment 
• The payment order is irrevocable within the MyBank context, even when the underlying scheme is standard SCT 
• They can therefore process the order or provide the service immediately, relying on the certainty of collection. 

3. Common ground between instant credit transfer and MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation 

Before delving into the differences, it is useful to understand what they have in common: 

• Both are based on SEPA credit transfers in euro 
• Both involve accounts located in the SEPA area 
• Both use traditional banking infrastructure (no cards, no external wallets) 
• Payer authentication takes place within the customer’s bank, in line with PSD2 rules (Strong Customer Authentication). 

These are not “new currencies” or separate accounts: in both cases, funds move from account to account within the traditional banking system.
The main differences arise from how the payment is initiated, managed and reported. 

4. Concrete differences for payers

The major difference is that an instant credit transfer is what is known as a push payment: the debtor “pushes” the payment to the creditor’s account, entering the details manually, as we will see in a moment. 

MyBank is a pull payment: the creditor sends the debtor a ready-made payment request, and the debtor simply needs to give their consent to finalise it. 

4.1. Where the payment is initiated 

• Instant credit transfer
  It typically starts from the payer’s online banking. The user must have the beneficiary’s details (IBAN, amount, payment reference) and enter them in the bank’s payment instruction form, selecting the instant credit transfer option where available. 

• MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation
  It is initiated from a B2B or B2C e-commerce site, an institutional or corporate portal, or via a payment link. Once ready to pay, the payer: 

1. Selects MyBank as the payment method 
2. Chooses their bank from the list 
3. Is redirected to their online banking, where the credit transfer is already fully pre-filled 
4. Checks and authorises the transaction. 

Within a few seconds, both payer and payee receive confirmation of the MyBank credit transfer. 

The experience is therefore more “guided”: it is the merchant’s/organisation’s digital flow that generates the payment, not the customer who has to set up all “fields” independently. 

4.2. Data entry: manual vs pre-filled 

With an instant credit transfer set up directly via the bank, it is the payer who enters: 

• The beneficiary’s IBAN 
• The amount 
• The payment reference (remittance information) 
• Any order or invoice references. 

 With a MyBank credit transfer, these data are set by the payee (company, organisation, Public Administration) and reach the payer’s bank already complete and pre-filled in the payment order. The customer only needs to: 

• Check that the information is correct 
• Go through the authentication steps 
• Confirm. 

This effectively eliminates the margin for error (for example, an IBAN copied incorrectly, a wrong amount, an incomplete payment reference) and enables a faster process, especially for large amounts or formal payments (taxes, duties, professional fees, etc.). 

4.3. What payers see at their end 

In both cases, customers can see in their online banking:
• confirmation that the transaction has been authorised
• the credit transfer details (beneficiary, IBAN, amount, date and payment reference). 

The difference is that, with MyBank, these details are already aligned with the merchant’s or payee’s information, reducing ambiguities and making any subsequent verification easier (for example, for a paid invoice, tax payment or instalment). 

5. Concrete differences for businesses, organisations and merchants receiving payments

5.1. Payment initiation and integration 

For a business or organisation, receiving “classic” instant credit transfers means: 

• Providing customers with an IBAN (on the website, on invoices, by email) 
• Relying on the payer to enter the data correctly 
• Waiting for the credit transfer receipt and matching it with the actual credit received 
• Handling incoming payments that may have heterogeneous or non-standard payment references. 

With MyBank, by contrast, the organisation can benefit from: 

• A natively digital payment method embedded in the checkout or collection portal and also available via a payment link 
• Order-related information that is accurate, as it is defined upstream by the payee (including structured references to the order or invoice) 
• Immediate confirmation of the transaction from the bank or PSP providing the MyBank service, directly linked to the specific order or administrative case. In other words, there is no need to request the bank receipt or check the account, as the immediate confirmation combined with the irrevocability of the MyBank credit transfer guarantees payment certainty 
• No sharing of bank account details. 

5.2. Automatic reconciliation and structured data 

One of the most important aspects for payees is reconciliation: 

• with credit transfers entered manually by customers, the payment reference may be incomplete, generic or contain non-standardised information 
• this forces the back office to carry out checks and manual matching 

With MyBank, this issue does not arise, as the credit transfer already contains the data required for reconciliation (such as order ID, invoice number, debtor position code, etc.), which: 

• Are transmitted consistently 
• Can be read by ERP and accounting systems 
• Enable automatic reconciliation potentially covering virtually 100% of incoming payments, minimising the need for manual intervention. 

5.3. Immediate certainty of collection and order management 

For merchants and service providers, a key question is: at what point can I treat the payment as final and go ahead with order fulfilment or service delivery? 

With MyBank, this is possible as soon as the payment confirmation is received, regardless of whether the underlying scheme is SCT Inst or standard SCT. 

Once the payment order has been authorised by the customer and transmitted via MyBank, it is irrevocable within the MyBank context. 

This translates into: 

• Immediate certainty of collection for the payee, already at the transaction confirmation stage 
• The ability to fulfil the order, ship the goods or activate the service immediately, without waiting for further confirmations, because the payment cannot be revoked through the MyBank channel once it has been authorised. 

For many entities (e-commerce, digital services, Public Administrations), this immediate certainty and the information that travels with it are almost more important than the speed with which the funds reach the account. 

6. Security: PSD2, online banking and Fraunhofer IO

For both payers and payees, security is a central issue. 

6.1. Authentication at the customer’s bank 

Both with traditional instant credit transfers and with MyBank payments: 

• Authentication takes place directly at the payer’s bank 
• Using the mechanisms required by PSD2 on Strong Customer Authentication (for example, password + OTP code, confirmation via secondary channels, etc.). 

This means that in both cases, the customer: 

• Does not have to share their credentials with the merchant 
• Operates in an environment (online banking) that they know and use regularly.

6.2. The role of MyBank 

The specific role of MyBank is to act as a secure bridge between the world of online portals/checkouts and the banking infrastructure.

MyBank: 

• Does not store customers’ access credentials 
• Does not replace the bank but integrates with its systems 
• Ensures that the payment request is transmitted securely and in a structured way to the payer’s institution. 

The security levels of the MyBank solution are regularly assessed and validated by Fraunhofer IO, one of Europe’s largest organisations for applied research, based in Germany and active in numerous technological fields, including: 

• IT security 
• Assessment and certification of digital solutions 
• Analysis of IT architectures in terms of robustness and data protection. 

This independent validation by Fraunhofer IO is an additional guarantee for all stakeholders – banks, businesses, Public Administrations and citizens – regarding the reliability of the security model adopted by MyBank. 

7. When is an instant credit transfer more suitable and when is a MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation preferable? 

Rather than seeing the two solutions as competing, it is helpful to view them as complementary, depending on the specific need. 

7.1. Typical use cases for a manual instant credit transfer 

An instant credit transfer via online banking can be particularly convenient when: 

• Money needs to be transferred quickly between private individuals (for example, settling up between friends or family members) 
• There is no structured digital context (e.g. portal or e-commerce) to generate the payment 
• A one-off transaction needs to be settled where the payee and payment reference are clear and agreed between the parties. 

In these situations, the customer has full control over the transaction, which is managed autonomously from their account. 

7.2. Typical use cases for a MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation 

The MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation – the digital transposition of a classic credit transfer – shows its strengths especially when: 

• The transaction is initiated from an e-commerce site, a corporate or Public Administration portal, a management system or a payment link 
• The business or organisation needs immediate certainty of collection in order to proceed with order fulfilment or service delivery 
• Data accuracy (invoice number, order ID, debtor position code) and automatic reconciliation of large volumes of incoming payments are crucial 

In these scenarios, the combination of: 

• Payment initiation from the payee’s digital flow 
• A pre-filled credit transfer 
• Structured data 
• Irrevocability of the payment order within the MyBank context 
• Security assessed and validated by an independent body such as the by Fraunhofer IO, 

makes the MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation a particularly suitable tool for supporting online collection processes in an efficient and reliable way.

8. In summary

• The SEPA instant credit transfer is a banking instrument designed to move money very quickly, typically initiated by the customer via their online banking, with manual data entry. 

• The MyBank credit transfer with immediate confirmation is pay-by-bank solution based on SEPA credit transfers (SCT and SCT Inst), which is initiated within a digital flow (e-commerce, portal, payment link), is fully pre-filled, contains structured data for automatic reconciliation and, once authorised, is irrevocable within the MyBank context, offering the payee immediate certainty of collection. 

For businesses, merchants and Public Administrations, this means more control, fewer errors and leaner collection processes. 

For payers, it means paying online in a simple, “guided” way, using their own online banking and benefiting from high security standards, assessed by an independent organisation such as the Fraunhofer IO.