What’s new for your payment services
Continuing on from recent technological developments, your payment services at Banque de Luxembourg are also changing. Advances in technology have allowed us to provide new payment services – services that are faster thanks to instant payments and more secure thanks to the Verification of Payee service. Please feel free to explore these new features for yourself.
I am a private client:
(user of online banking services via the
E-Banking website/BL Mobile Banking app)
I am a professional client:
MultiLine user
I am a private client (user of online banking services via the E-Banking website/BL Mobile Banking app)
Benefit from instant payments
Since 9 January 2025, you have been able to receive instant payments. Starting on 9 October, you will be able to send payments in this form in less than 10 seconds – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
An instant payment is a bank transaction that is executed in real time. Instant payments can only be made in euro within the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) zone1. Traditional payments may take several hours or even days, but with instant payments the transferred funds are available to the beneficiary within 10 seconds. Instant payments represent a major development in the payment sector.
via remote banking tools?
A daily credit transfer limit of €10,000 will be set for your remote banking tools2 – this applies to both instant and non-instant payments. You can independently decrease or increase this limit (up to €50,000) online2,3.
Instant payments can only be made from a current account denominated in euro or in other currencies (requiring conversion into euro) not classified as an “exotic currency”4. Savings accounts are not eligible for instant payments.
- Log in to your E-Banking area or your BL Mobile Banking app
- Initiate your credit transfer
- If your credit transfer is eligible for instant payment, you can choose for it to be executed either instantly or non-instantly.
Be careful!
Instant payments cannot be cancelled. It is therefore important to make absolutely sure that all the information you have entered (amount, beneficiary) is correct before validating your payment.
If your instant payment fails, a corresponding notification will be sent to your digital areas and via your secure electronic messaging service.
There is no difference between instant and non-instant payments when it comes to fees. Please ask your usual adviser for a full copy of the Bank’s fees and charges or visit our dedicated webpage.
Making payments even more secure via the Verification of Payee (VoP) service
Starting 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 within the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) zone5.
This European regulatory change aims to limit fraud by ensuring that the name on the beneficiary’s account matches the IBAN given.
When you make a one-off payment, set up a standing order or create a new beneficiary, the Bank will check that the name of the beneficiary (or the company name) you enter matches the name associated with their IBAN.
Examples
You make a payment to Mr John Smith.
A. You spell your beneficiary’s name perfectly, so that it aligns with the name associated with their IBAN. The match is confirmed and you can continue with your payment.
B. You misspell Mr John Smith’s name as Mr Jon Smith. In this case, the beneficiary name you have entered will be partially confirmed. The beneficiary bank will provide you with an exact match. You can either accept the suggested name, in which case the exact beneficiary match will be confirmed, or reject it and continue with the spelling you entered initially, which means accepting the risk of error associated with sending a payment to the wrong beneficiary.
C. The match with Mr John Smith is not confirmed. You can change your selection or continue with your payment using the name of the beneficiary you entered, accepting the risk of error associated with sending a payment to the wrong beneficiary.
D. It is not possible to verify the match (e.g. technical error, beneficiary’s account has been closed). You can cancel your payment or choose to continue. Please note that if your beneficiary’s account has been closed, you will not be able to continue with your payment. In this case, you will be asked to enter a different beneficiary account.
A perfect match with your beneficiary requires the “name or company name” field to include the name of your beneficiary, i.e. the one associated with their IBAN (e.g. Bâloise assurances Luxembourg S.A.).
A perfect match with your beneficiary requires the “name or company name” field to include the name of your beneficiary, i.e. the one associated with their IBAN (e.g. Ethias assurances S.A.).
The “additional information” field also allows you to assign a personalised name to your beneficiaries so that they can be identified more easily (in this example, by specifying the type of policy taken out).
Personalising your beneficiaries (rent, gas, electricity, telephone, etc.), helps make your regular payments easier.
The Verification of Payee service will be applied to new standing orders. Existing standing orders will not be affected unless they are subsequently modified.
Not all countries in the SEPA zone6 are eligible for the Verification of Payee service at this time. In particular, this includes countries for which the euro is not the official currency, such as the following: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden. For these countries (as well as Switzerland and the UK), the Verification of Payee service will not be offered.
1,5,6The list of SEPA member countries is available here
2Overall daily credit transfer limit applicable to all account holders and attorneys on a “per account” basis. Limit adjusted for certain client profiles on the basis of predefined criteria (e.g. institutional clients, investment fund initiators)
3Maximum daily credit transfer limit covers all account holders and attorneys
4A list of currencies eligible and not eligible for instant payments can be obtained from your adviser.
I am a professional client: MultiLine user
Benefit from instant payments
Starting 9 October, you will be able to make and receive instant payments via your MultiLine interface in less than 10 seconds – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
An instant payment is a bank transaction that is executed in real time. Instant payments can only be made in euro within the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) zone1. Traditional payments may take several hours or even days, but with instant payments the transferred funds are available within 10 seconds. Instant payments represent a major development in the payment sector.
via MultiLine?
A default daily limit2 has been set for your account. You can independently3 decrease or increase this limit (up to €1 million) via your MultiLine interface.
In the interests of security and fraud prevention, you can use the interface to make instant payments only between 5am and 6pm on business days in Luxembourg.
For non-instant payments, the limit that was set when your MultiLine agreement was set up will continue to apply.
Instant payments can be made from a current account denominated in euro or in currencies (requiring conversion into euro) not classified as an “exotic currency”4. Savings accounts are not eligible for instant payments.
- Log in to your MultiLine interface
- Initiate your payment
- If your payment is eligible for instant payment, you can choose for it to be executed either instantly or non-instantly.
If your instant payment fails, you will receive a corresponding notification via your MultiLine interface.
There is no difference between instant and non-instant payments when it comes to fees. Please ask your usual adviser for a full copy of the Bank’s fees and charges or visit our dedicated webpage.
Making payments even more secure via the Verification of Payee (VoP) service
Starting 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 within the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) zone5.
This European regulatory change aims to limit fraud by ensuring that the name on the beneficiary’s account matches the IBAN given when you manually enter a payment in euro or import files to your MultiLine interface (please note that the Verification of Payee service will also be applied to payments in foreign currency that are entered manually).
When you are the beneficiary of a payment, you should also remember to check that your billing documents (or other payment documents) clearly show the name (or company name) associated with your account next to your IBAN. If you do not provide your clients with the exact name of the account to be credited, you run the risk of payments not reaching you (risk of the client cancelling the payment instruction if the match is not confirmed).
When you make a payment, the Bank will check that the name of the beneficiary (or the company name) you enter matches the name of the associated bank account (use the name that appears on the account’s bank details (RIB)).
Examples
A. The beneficiary name is confirmed. You spell your beneficiary's name perfectly, so that it aligns with the name associated with their IBAN: the match is confirmed and you can continue with your payment.
B. The beneficiary name you have entered will be partially confirmed. The beneficiary bank can provide you with an exact match. You can either accept the name suggested by the bank or continue with the spelling you entered initially, which means accepting the risk of error associated with sending a payment to the wrong beneficiary.
C. The match is not confirmed. You can change your selection or continue with your payment using the details you entered, accepting the risk of error associated with sending a payment to the wrong beneficiary.
D. It is not possible to verify the match (e.g. technical error, beneficiary’s account has been closed). You can cancel your payment or choose to continue, accepting the risk of error associated with sending a payment to the wrong beneficiary.
The ability to opt out is reserved for professional and institutional clients as well as all other MultiLine interface users. It is only permitted in the case of bulk payments (payment files containing more than one transaction) transmitted via file upload. You cannot opt out in the case of an individual payment.
You can contact your adviser to opt out as desired. You can revoke a decision to opt in at any time: via your MultiLine interface for bulk payments or by contacting your adviser for any other payment.
Not all countries in the SEPA zone6 are eligible for the Verification of Payee service at this time. In particular, this includes countries for which the euro is not the official currency, such as the following: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden. For these countries (as well as Switzerland and the UK), the Verification of Payee service will not be offered.
1,5,6The list of SEPA member countries is available here
2Overall daily payment limit applies to all account holders and attorneys
3Daily payment limit may be adjusted by someone with signature power
4A list of currencies eligible and not eligible for instant payments can be obtained from your adviser.