According to a draft law seen by Reuters, only 11% of euro credit transfers were in the form of instant payments at the end of 2021. Says the draft: "Payment service providers (PSPs) that provide credit transfers in euro will be required to offer the service of sending and receiving IPs in euro. The requirement would cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year." The draft law will be published this week and will then go to EU states and the European Parliament, says Reuters. PSPs would then have six months to be ready to receive instant payments in euros in the euro area. They would have a year for sending instant payments in euros. The rules are part of efforts to develop "competitive home-grown and pan-European market-based payments solutions". The EU has long sought to foster rivals to the dominant US players, Visa and Mastercard. Earlier his year, one such effort - the European Payments Initiative - was forced to give up on its effort after more than half its bank members left.