CaixaBank surpasses 250,000 transactions on the “Request To Pay” instant collection service

• The bank was the first in Europe to be approved by the SEPA Request To Pay scheme and has now activated its commercial service in Spain 

• The “Request To Pay” scheme allows companies to send an automatic payment request to facilitate that debtors pay their returned bills 

• Carrefour, one of the first companies to use the service, has achieved a 30% acceptance of payment requests sent to customers

CaixaBank has exceeded 250,000 instant bill collection transactions for companies through the new SEPA Request To Pay system. The bank, which in June 2023 became the first in Europe to be approved to operate with this system, has now activated the first commercial service created under the new system.

The service makes it easier for companies to collect unpaid direct debit bills that are returned to the sender. When the company's system receives a returned bill, CaixaBank's “Request To Pay” service automatically sends a “payment request” to the customer. The customer then receives it directly in their digital banking service, with all the security guarantees, and can decide when to make the payment within the period established in the request, as well as the account to charge the amount to.

If the amount of the payment request is €15,000 or less, the system handles it as an immediate transfer, which reaches the account of the company receiving the payment within a maximum of 10 seconds. For payments above €15,000, the system handles it as an ordinary transfer, which is paid on the next business day.

Carrefour was one of the first customers to use the service, starting in April 2024, and is seeing an outstanding success rate. Around 30% of the requests issued are paid with the “Request To Pay” system, and debtors are accepting this service as a normal and secure payment process. The service can also adapt to companies of different sectors and sizes with high success rates.

CaixaBank, a leading international bank in innovation

Technology and innovation are crucial for CaixaBank, and in the last couple of years, CaixaBank has become an international leader in financial services and innovative payment methods.

In fact, CaixaBank was the pioneer bank carrying out the first instant transfer transaction once the system was launched. Another pivotal moment in its track record in the field of pioneering experiences in payment methods came when in 2022 CaixaBank was selected by the European Central Bank (ECB) to prepare a future launch of the digital euro and co-develop a prototype wallet for P2P person-to-person payments. 

CaixaBank has the largest digital customer base within the Spanish financial sector with 11.8 million users of its digital banking service, and the bank works every day to develop new models that enable it to respond to the demands and needs of its customers and bring products, services and financial culture closer to all of society. In addition, CaixaBank, through its subsidiary CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, is the leading bank in payment methods in the Iberian market.

In this digitisation process, the bank, which has its own technology subsidiary, CaixaBank Tech, and multidisciplinary teams that take innovation to every corner of the organisation, promotes projects based on new technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, app development, big data, and more.

All these technologies provide its advisers with further and better resources to help their customers, drive the customisation of their commercial offer, with the aim of improving customer linkage, develop new financial services and streamline decision-making processes.

Global Finance magazine has recognised CaixaBank's digital transformation and its commitment to innovation with 19 awards in the latest edition of its Best Digital Bank Awards, a record figure for the bank, which cements its position for yet another year as a leader in the digital banking sector globally.