New for your payment services in 2025

We are pleased to announce some news about your payment services. Technological progress – enabling faster, simpler execution of your payments – means we are now able to offer a number of new services.

1. Benefit from instant payments

Instant payments will be launched by Banque de Luxembourg in two stages in 2025:

• From 9 January 2025 you will be able to RECEIVE instant payments.
• From 9 October 2025, you will be able to SEND instant payments.

An instant payment is a bank transaction that is executed in real time.

Instant payments can only be made in euro within the SEPA zone*. Traditional payments may take several hours or even days, but with instant payments the transferred funds are available immediately. Instant payments represent a major development in payment services and, from next October, you will be able to transfer funds in less than 10 seconds, 24/7.

More information on how to make instant payments will follow shortly.

2. Making payments even more secure

From 9 October 2025, we will be introducing Verification of Payee (VOP) prior to the execution of every transaction – whether instant or not – in order to strengthen the security of euro payments.

This European regulatory innovation aims to minimise fraud by checking that the account holder and IBAN of the beneficiary are correct when you make a euro transfer. 

More information on the means of verification and execution of your payments will follow shortly.

3. New advantages with your payment cards

We are adding Visa Debit – the debit card that replaces your V Pay card for everyday expenditure – to our extended range of Visa cards.

New advantages with Visa Debit:

• Secure online shopping, as transactions will be validated using the LuxTrust Mobile application
• Insurance cover for online purchases (delivery cover on items purchased online: up to EUR 1,000 per claim and EUR 2,000 per year)
• Payments and withdrawals can be made worldwide, wherever Visa cards are accepted; compatible with Apple Pay and possible from a mobile device (iPhone and Apple Watch)
• Visa Debit also comes with contactless technology to make your payments easier

Make sure you have sufficient funds when making payments with a Visa Debit card.

From 3 March 2025, in addition to checking the card limit, the Bank will verify that there are sufficient funds available in the account linked to the card each time a transaction is made at a point of sale (in-store or online) or at an ATM, and will accept or – where insufficient funds are available – decline the transaction (not applicable to accounts with an overdraft facility).

Want to find out more about our full range of payment cards? Check out Manage your day-to-day banking – Banque de Luxembourg

4. Changes to the TUP

The Titre Universel de Paiement (TUP – Universal Payment Order) is changing from 1 June 2025. If you use this medium to transfer money, please call into the Bank or contact your adviser for the new version of the form.

Please do not hesitate to contact your adviser for any more information you may require.

*The SEPA zone covers all countries in the European Union as well as the UK, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.