Instant Payments Regulation Reporting – ready for the new EU reporting requirements?

Focus on instant payments: What the new EU regulation means for payment service providers

With Regulation (EU) 2024/886, the European Union is further promoting the use of instant payments in the SEPA area. The regulation supplements the SEPA Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 and defines instant payments as payments that are executed around the clock and where the amount is available in the recipient’s account within ten seconds.

In addition to the operational requirements for payment transactions, the focus is primarily on new reporting requirements.

Instant Payments Regulation Reporting: New reporting requirements for payment service providers

Payment service providers are required to submit reports to the competent authorities on an annual basis. These reports include, among other things:

• the fees for credit transfers and instant payments,
• information on payment accounts, and
• the proportion of payment transactions declined on the basis of targeted financial restrictive measures (Article 15(3) of the SEPA Regulation).

Further information is available on the BaFin website.

What exactly do the new requirements mean?

For many institutions, this poses additional challenges in regulatory reporting, including:

• Expansion and preparation of existing data sets
• Adjustment of fee and transaction classifications
• Consideration of sanction-related evaluations
• Consolidation at the company level
• Timely and formally correct submission of reports

Against the backdrop of scarce resources, a structured approach to regulatory reporting is becoming increasingly important.

Regulatory reporting software and services from a single source

In addition to software support, regulatory reporting services are becoming increasingly important. In times of skilled labour shortages, scarce human resources and constant deadline pressure in regulatory reporting, we support payment service providers in fulfilling their reporting obligations to banking supervisory authorities in a professional, procedural and timely manner.

The deadline for submitting the first IPR report is already 9 April 2026. This means that:

Our regulatory reporting services include the preparation of relevant payment data in a BAIS-compatible format and the creation and validation of regulatory-compliant reporting files for the last four calendar years. This reduces manual effort and provides lasting relief for specialist departments and IT. Integrated regulatory reporting services provide support in areas such as:

• the interpretation of new regulatory requirements,
• data mapping and technical design,
• the validation and plausibility checking of reporting data, and
• coordination between specialist departments, IT and compliance.

BAIS integration for instant payments reporting

For instant payments reporting, message creation in our regulatory reporting software solution msg.ORRP/BAIS (Banking Supervision Information System) is technically supported by the BAISform modules VD260 and VD260a. These cover the following functions, among others:

• manual data entry or data delivery via interfaces,
• automatic calculation of relevant total items,
• display and checking of reporting forms, and
• creation and validation of submission files.

In addition, the BAIS Light versions (BAIS ExtraNet KWG and BAISform) offer a streamlined introduction to instant payment reporting. Based on pre-determined position values, reports can be efficiently created, checked and documented in a traceable manner.

Comprehensive checking and validation mechanisms as well as meaningful logs ensure transparency and security before the reporting files are transmitted to the Deutsche Bundesbank in XML or XBRL format by the deadline. Reports are submitted annually and are based on standardised reporting forms covering volumes, fees, payment accounts and rejected instant payments.

Conclusion

The Instant Payments Regulation brings with it new requirements for payment service providers in terms of payment transactions and regulatory reporting. In addition to technical implementation, the focus of supervision is shifting in particular to structured, traceable reporting.

With an integrated combination of regulatory reporting software and accompanying services, these requirements can be implemented efficiently, on time and in an audit-proof manner.