This means that immediate transfers will be between 0.45 euros and 1.0 euros cheaper with the main national financial institutions, according to the survey carried out by ECO.

Last year, a new European regulation was approved to make instant transfers more accessible to payment service users.

In Portugal, they represent just over 5% of the total transfers carried out annually, which compares with an average of 15.5% in the European Union.

One of the obstacles identified by the European legislator for the reduced use of instant transfers was the price: banks charged more for instant transfers (which take up to 10 seconds for funds to be deposited into the beneficiary's account) than for a normal transfer (which may take more than 24 hours).

In this sense, the new rules determined that any fees charged by banks in relation to immediate transfers cannot be higher than those charged for normal transfers. This determination had to be complied with by banks starting this Thursday, the 9th.