Brussels, 10/02/2022 (Agence Europe) – Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinness announced via Twitter on Wednesday 9 February that the European Commission will present a legislative initiative on instant payments during the second half of 2022. “We need it to speed up the roll-out of instant payments in the EU”, she added. The European Commission launched a public consultation in March 2021 to inform its thinking on how to encourage the use of instant payments in the EU (see EUROPE 12690/31). This initiative forms part of its September 2020 strategy for “modern and cost-effective” retail payments (see EUROPE 12567/1). The European retail payments market still remains too fragmented along national borders, said the Executive Vice-President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis. (AD)