Under the EU's Instant Payments Regulation, every French bank and payment provider must support real-time euro SEPA transfers, available 24/7/365, with funds landing within 10 seconds at no extra charge versus a standard transfer. Providers must also run 'Verification of Payee' (VoP) checks, warning senders if the recipient's name doesn't match the account details, to combat push-payment fraud. The instant-transfer amount cap of €100,000 was removed by the Banque de France on 5 October 2025, though individual banks may still impose their own temporary limits. From November 2026, single-line addresses are prohibited — structured address fields (street, number, postcode) are required. Non-SEPA international transfers remain subject to standard KYC/AML checks reinforced by EU directives like MiCA.
SEPA instant transfers are now mandatory 24/7/365, with funds arriving within 10 seconds at no extra cost.
Verification of Payee (VoP) checks: banks must warn senders of name/account mismatches before processing.
€100,000 instant-transfer cap removed by Banque de France on 5 October 2025; individual banks may still set their own temporary limits.
From November 2026, single-line addresses are banned — structured address fields (street/number/postcode) are required for transfers.
Costs
SEPA instant transfer fee: no extra charge vs. standard transfer
Timelines
SEPA instant transfer settlement: within 10 seconds, 24/7/365
Structured address requirement takes effect: November 2026
Common Mistakes
Assuming the old €100,000 instant-transfer cap still applies uniformly — it was removed at the EU/Banque de France level in October 2025, though some banks retain their own limits.
Using single-line address formats for transfers after the November 2026 structured-address requirement takes effect.