Insights

The journey toward the Digital Euro has begun, but banks still need clear answers regarding the opportunities and challenges of the new Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). For this reason, TAS has decided to meet with financial institutions to discuss how to integrate the new digital currency while mitigating investment impacts and creating value-added services.

“Technological evolution drives change in payment services: digital currencies have emerged, so moving toward the Digital Euro is a natural step,” says Odisseo Di Michele, Business Development Manager at TAS. “Moreover, those operating in crypto-assets today rely on private and high-risk networks that could easily collapse in the event of a speculative bubble. As a result, they are not viewed favorably by supervisory authorities, which must ensure stability, reliability, and resilience in payment systems within their respective markets. Having a Eurozone currency will also reduce dependence on major global digital payment networks, which have cost implications for the system’s resources.”

The First Challenges to Address

However, some critical issues also emerge for banks. The first concerns the cost of implementing new Digital Euro payment services, which must be included in budgets while also assessing the return on these investments.

“Another critical aspect is linked to the fact that digital currency is a form of payment similar to cash,” Di Michele continues. “The amount of digital currency citizens hold in their wallet is withdrawn from the current accounts linked to the Digital Euro app, thereby reducing the bank’s overall funding availability.”

How Many Digital Euros in the Wallet?

Discussions are ongoing between the ECB and banks regarding the maximum holding limit. The Central Bank is leaning toward a threshold of €3,000, while financial institutions would prefer a limit of €1,000.

“The main feature of these Digital Euro accounts (wallets) is that they must be funded via a link to one or more current accounts held by the customer, who can choose which account to draw from,” explains Di Michele. “However, the maximum cap — whether €3,000 or less — will be tied to the individual’s wallet, not to each associated account.”

The Path Paved by Instant Payments

While seeking a balanced solution between the two positions, the ECB recognizes that it cannot move forward without banks and the trust-based relationships they have built with consumers over the years, continuing to innovate in digital payments.

“The introduction of the Digital Euro, and more broadly services based on DLT technologies, confirms and consolidates the now unavoidable trend toward implementing instant payment services available 24/7/365,” Di Michele notes. “Another use case involves offline payments, similar to cash payments — anonymous and untraceable — activated through communication between two devices when there is no network connection.”

Strategies and Investments to Consider

To fully leverage the Digital Euro's innovative potential, banks may consider adopting shared system-wide platforms, upgrading their existing payment management platforms, or implementing new infrastructures dedicated to these new services.

“Our Payments Hub integrates all payment services, and thanks to an advanced technological platform, we will integrate Digital Euro payment services as well,” says Di Michele. “This is a journey that began with the introduction of instant payments last October and continues with the Digital Euro. This infrastructure enables the management of DLT-based mechanisms and new networks, starting with the management of the new Digital Euro account. The goal is to provide banks — and their end customers — with features to control and modify daily or monthly usage limits of the account linked to the wallet, as well as treasury management functionalities. In addition, we are developing solutions for the offline operation of devices connected to the Digital Euro wallet.”

Finally, TAS is working to facilitate the introduction of Digital Euro payment services within treasury management and the Public Administration sector, which will need to adapt to accepting payments in Digital Euro.

DLT for Eurosystem Payment Systems

In July 2025, the ECB approved a blockchain strategy structured around two projects: Pontes, a short-term solution to connect DLT platforms with the Eurosystem’s payment systems, and Appia, a long-term initiative aimed at creating an integrated European ecosystem for the settlement of tokenized assets.

This represents a response to dependence on foreign infrastructures and the spread of dollar-denominated stablecoins to strengthen European autonomy in digital payments.

“This strategy aligns with the evolution of settlement services provided by the ECB,” Di Michele concludes. “With the Pontes project, DLT-based services are being further expanded.”

Original source: article by AziendaBanca

The revolution of Financial Transfers across borders continues for an increasingly digitalized, fair, and efficient Europe.

The recent approval by the European Parliament of new regulations on instant payments marks a new turning point in the payments landscape within the European Union.

The recent provisions, which will come into effect 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU, aim to ensure the promptness of money transfers between consumers' and businesses' accounts, representing a significant step towards greater financial efficiency and security.

With the new rules, all payment service providers must offer customers the possibility to make instant transfers that take no longer than ten seconds from approval, at any time and day. This will result in almost immediate liquidity for individuals and businesses, promising to significantly improve the daily operations of millions of Europeans. Additionally, the costs of instant payments must not exceed those of regular transfers.

The new regulation also outlines an efficient process for handling multiple orders of instant fund transfers sent in bundles to Payment Service Providers (PSPs), with particular attention to businesses in business-to-business (B2B) payments. When a Payment Service User (PSU) sends a package of instant fund transfer orders, the receiving PSP must immediately split the package, turning each order into individual transactions of instant credit transfer.

Furthermore, currently, payment and electronic money institutions are excluded from the definition of "entity" in Directive 98/26/EC, limiting their participation in instant euro transfers. The regulation aims to include them, allowing them to participate in Payment Systems and contribute to the adoption of instant fund transfers.

Another significant aspect of the regulation is the applicability of the new rules even in member countries that do not use the euro as the official currency, provided their bank accounts support regular euro transactions. This will ensure widespread sharing of the benefits of instant payments, further promoting economic integration among EU countries.

The new regulation emphasizes the importance of anti-fraud measures, requiring payment service providers to implement advanced fraud prevention systems and offering consumers tools to limit risks, such as the ability to set a maximum amount for instant transfers.

One of the main novelties is also the obligation for payment service providers to verify the correspondence of beneficiary names and IBANs for all transactions.

Additionally, the regulation ensures universal access to instant euro fund transfers for all Payment Service Users (PSUs). It states that there should be no disparities in the channels used to initiate instant payments compared to other types of fund transfers.

TAS's solution for Instant Payments fully covers compliance with the new regulation, with the possibility of adopting the platform modularly and as a service.

Thanks to ur long-standing relationships with most Italian banks, TAS has become a leader in Instant Payments solutions in Italy and has in-depth market knowledge and a unique ability to meet the needs of financial institutions in the product adoption journey.

With its expansion across Europe, TAS is well-positioned to drive innovation in the instant payments sector, offering a comprehensive, modular, and innovative solution that meets the needs of Italian and European banks.

Our commitment is indeed to be a true partner for banks, working closely with them to understand and meet their specific needs.

The modularity of the solution allows banks to choose only the necessary components and design a tailored architecture based on their specific requirements. Additionally, our solutions are based on a modern architecture designed to ensure complete service continuity, with real-time operations 24 hours a day.

Our offering model is based on a very flexible approach and can be implemented in the cloud, on-premises, or in SaaS mode, allowing for rapid and effective time to market.

Key features of TAS solution:

• Full compliance with SEPA Inst protocol requirements: complete processing time <10 sec., Timeout management.
• Cloud-native platform: for a turnkey offering with real-time 24 × 7 operations.
• Omni-channel: corporate portal, retail banking, back-office, etc.
• API interfaces: for payment initiation, reachability, and message requests.
• Message enhancement: message data enrichment through integration with core banking.
• Message screening: message verification through integration with screening systems (e.g., AML, Fraud, etc.).
• Message pairing and r-messages: Pairing of related messages and management of r-messages.
• "Four Eyes" principle: workflow can be defined with multilevel approval processes wherever necessary.
• Error alert: notifications can be sent in case of errors.
• Scalability and fault tolerance: the solution ensures full vertical and horizontal scalability.
• Certified full SWIFT message interface: the message network interface is a fully certified SWIFT application.

Contact our experts to find out how TAS can support you in implementing fast, effective, secure, and fully compliant solutions with the new regulations.

We continue to invest in innovation within the payment sector by introducing advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solutions aimed at significantly improving efficiency, security, and overall user experience.

Now available on our website is an intelligent chatbot named LIA, designed to respond to user inquiries quickly and efficiently. This is just one example of our innovation journey focused on two main areas: integrating advanced AI-based features into our products and optimizing internal processes through the effective implementation of AI.

Enhanced Security with "Fraud Protect"
Security in payment systems is an absolute necessity, especially in the digital context that poses continuous challenges and threats. "Fraud Protect," our fraud management solution, now incorporates advanced AI technologies to identify suspicious transaction patterns, significantly enhancing fraud prevention and anti-terrorism security. Additionally, the introduction of the intelligent chatbot "IVIC," which engages with users in potential risk situations, improves customer experience and helps reduce false positives.

Optimized Transaction Processing and Reconciliation
AI plays a crucial role in automating transaction processing and reconciliation processes. By reducing manual errors, we increase operational efficiency, ensuring greater accuracy in transactions. Predictive analysis plays a fundamental role in managing transaction peaks, allocating resources more efficiently. TAS's Banking Treasury product is evolving to implement AI-based predictive treasury models, capable of predicting liquidity needs in real-time, even on an intraday basis.

Global Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Payment Systems
We believe that the use of AI in the production process of payment systems has become essential and capable of influencing productivity, quality, and product innovation. From transaction processing to project management to customer support, AI is transforming every aspect of the process, opening new horizons in an ever-evolving industry. That's why we continuously invest in integrating new AI-based technologies into our products to stay ahead and ensure increasingly effective and secure payment solutions.

TAS Lab is our new research department which aims to continuously invest in innovation in the financial sector. The purpose of TAS Lab is to design technologically advanced solutions that improve how people use financial services, developing state-of-the-art products to provide banks and companies with a competitive advantage in the market.

The department currently focuses on three main research areas: quantum computing for payment fraud prevention, the development of a new phygital model of bank branches (TAS Remote Teller) and the applications of artificial intelligence to the world of payments.

Quantum computing is an emerging technology that promises to revolutionize the way data and financial transactions are handled. TAS Lab, together with the University of Verona (Italy), is exploiting this technology on concrete use cases to develop advanced solutions for the prevention of payment fraud, which allow banks and financial institutions to manage payment transactions more securely and efficiently.

The phygital bank branch, or TAS Remote Teller, represents a new frontier in the banking sector, which combines the advantages of physical presence with the convenience of digital technology. TAS Lab is exploring how this technology can be used to improve the customer banking experience, guaranteeing the physical presence of streamlined branches on the territory with virtual assistance that allows the user to carry out all the banking operations of a traditional branch in a simple and fast way.

Finally, TAS Lab is investing in artificial intelligence, developing advanced algorithms and machine learning technologies to improve data management and financial transactions.

If you are a research institution, a company or an individual with a passion for technology and innovation and are interested in collaborating with TAS Lab, please get in touch with us to submit your idea. The department is always looking for new projects and solutions.

Contact us at solutions@tasgroup.eu to find out how we can create the future of financial services together.

To write this article we used the artificial intelligence of Chat GPT, starting from our ideas💡.

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