Similar to how bank transactions have been instant in Europe for more than two decades, but are still a novelty in the US.
As the other commenter says, "Europe" is not a uniform entity. You may be thinking of some component of "Europe" where this may have been true for two decades. Wonder where that is.
In my experience, in the French component, this has absolutely not been the case. Only recently have "immediate" transfers become free at my bank, and they've only been available at all for a few years. Certainly less than 10 years.
And they're also not actually instant. I'm a freelance, and my professional account is at the same bank, same branch, as my personal account. The "instant" transfer is only credited the next day, even though it shows up quickly in pending transactions.
And this isn't some dingy "mom & pop" operation, it's the biggest bank in Europe (which may or may not help with these issues).
> This regulation should be seen in the context of the pre-existing systems which it builds on, towards a common European standard. An obvious criticism is that this centralizes power, but that is fundamentally rooted in the assumption that the EU is similar to the US: It's not.
In the EU the component States are very influential, they have formal or 'soft' veto's on practical all matters. There are no EU presential elections. The EU 'government' is run by appointees nominated by the States. Its much more like the US Confederacy.
I'm not familiar with US' workings or its history so can't comment on how close the EU is to it. But, at least in France, people do take issue with the centralization of power. "It's not the US" is actually an argument against centralization (again, not sure how correct this is).
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As the other commenter says, "Europe" is not a uniform entity. You may be thinking of some component of "Europe" where this may have been true for two decades. Wonder where that is.
In my experience, in the French component, this has absolutely not been the case. Only recently have "immediate" transfers become free at my bank, and they've only been available at all for a few years. Certainly less than 10 years.
And they're also not actually instant. I'm a freelance, and my professional account is at the same bank, same branch, as my personal account. The "instant" transfer is only credited the next day, even though it shows up quickly in pending transactions.
And this isn't some dingy "mom & pop" operation, it's the biggest bank in Europe (which may or may not help with these issues).
> This regulation should be seen in the context of the pre-existing systems which it builds on, towards a common European standard. An obvious criticism is that this centralizes power, but that is fundamentally rooted in the assumption that the EU is similar to the US: It's not.
I'm not familiar with US' workings or its history so can't comment on how close the EU is to it. But, at least in France, people do take issue with the centralization of power. "It's not the US" is actually an argument against centralization (again, not sure how correct this is).