Instant payments have taken over, with most transfers arriving within seconds.

By: Trademagazin Date: 2026. 01. 27. 11:33

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It can now be clearly stated that the Instant Payment System (AFR) has become the mainstream of Hungarian money flows – says Péter Gergely, financial expert at BiztosDöntés.hu. According to central bank data, two out of three bank transfers arrive in this way, in no more than five seconds.

According to Péter Gergely, financial expert at BiztosDöntés.hu, the picture is even more telling if we examine domestic transactions relevant to AFR. According to the latest data from the Hungarian National Bank, 85–87 percent of domestic transfers are now instant payments. However, when examining the value of transactions, the AFR rate is “only” 22–24 percent, which clearly shows that instant payments are primarily the domain of everyday, smaller-value transactions.

The maximum amount of AFR transfers of 20 million is an obstacle for high-value, typically corporate transfers. According to Péter Gergely, this difference is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of a particularly healthy structure: the fast, 0–24-hour settlement of retail and micro-enterprise transactions dominates where it has a real economic benefit.

This is also supported by the fact that the average AFR transfer amount has been relatively stable between 270-280 thousand for the past year and a half, says the financial expert of BiztosDöntés.hu, who believes that based on all this, it can be stated that instant payment has now become the mainstream. This is of course also related to the fact that – Péter Gergely reminds us – the majority of retail customers do not directly encounter transaction fees for instant payments, since no fee base is created for retail transfers under 50 thousand forints.

It’s only a matter of time before the two-thirds become available

The AFR ratio to the total transfer turnover continues to be around 60–65 percent in terms of units, but this can be attributed to regulatory and technical reasons:

Foreign transfers cannot be AFR transactions.
Transfers initiated to account numbers within the same bank are technically not AFR transfers (since they are not go through the GIRO Zrt. system), even if the settlement of these operations also takes place in a matter of seconds.

According to Péter Gergely, the numbers also show that AFR is no longer just a faster transfer, but has become the basis of an independent payment ecosystem. The spread of qvik, secondary identifiers and payment requests indicate that digital payments are becoming less and less tied to bank cards, and instant transfers are gaining more and more ground. According to the BiztosDöntés.hu expert, this trend will certainly continue, and it will soon become natural for users that in a digital environment, transfers are just as direct and immediate a payment method as cash was before.

Online transfers are eligible for discounts

With banks’ retail account packages, most discounts naturally apply to transfers under 50 thousand forints, which are exempt from transaction fees – or to the portion of transactions under 50 thousand forints. According to the data from the BiztosDöntés.hu bank account calculator, you can also find offers for fee-free transactions, but these are mostly typical of premium account packages that encourage active account use.

With the ECO and ECO Plusz bank accounts of CIB Bank, electronic domestic transfers up to 50 thousand forints are free of charge as a promotional offer. (The promotional conditions are valid until June 30.)

With the Kamat Plusz account package of Gránit Bank, electronic domestic transfers up to 50 thousand forints are free of charge