Instant payment

Instant payment is a payment method in which the money is transferred immediately after the transfer order is issued (usually within 10 seconds) from one account to another, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The payer’s account is debited immediately and virtually at the same time as the funds are made available in the beneficiary's account. This means the beneficiary can usually dispose of the funds immediately.

The speed of instant payment depends on the processing rules of the respective clearing system. As a rule, the funds are transferred to the beneficiary's account within 10 seconds.

For conventional transfers within Switzerland, the money is credited on the next bank working day. Depending on whether the transfer is initiated during the day or at night, on the weekend or a public holiday, this can take several hours or days.

By contrast, with an instant payment, it does not matter what time or day of the week the paying party initiates the transfer – if successful, the payment is usually processed within ten seconds.

With the UBS TWINT app, funds up to a limit of CHF 5,000 can be transferred “instantly” from one TWINT account to another. The beneficiary’s bank credits the amount in advance until it receives the money from the payer’s bank one or two days later, as with a conventional transfer.

With an instant payment, it doesn’t matter what time or what day of the week a transfer is made (including weekends and public holidays). This gives clients the option of making transfers at any time with an “immediate” execution date, and these are usually processed within seconds. With an express payment, the client has the option of submitting an urgent order to UBS with a desired execution date of “today” on weekdays from 12:30 to 16:00 (order placement). The order will be executed by UBS on the same day (the conditions set out in the Payment Transaction Conditions apply).

A surcharge of CHF 5 is applied to instant payments to UBS clients and clients of other banks within Switzerland. The exact conditions can be found in our brochure on services and prices.

You need Digital Banking to make an instant payment. When making a new payment, you can select the instant payment option, provided the beneficiary bank accepts instant payments, the payment is made in CHF and the amount limit is not exceeded. The general limit is CHF 20,000, but UBS reserves the right to agree higher limits bilaterally with individual financial institutions. If the limit for a payment is exceeded, the account to be debited does not have sufficient balance, or the necessary validation checks could not be carried out successfully when the order was placed / an instant payment is not possible for any other reason, you will receive a corresponding notification in online banking.

Yes, UBS applies the same security measures as it does for conventional transfers to verify the legitimacy of the payment. Credit risks and uncertainties are also eliminated, as successful instant payment has an immediate effect on the accounts and the payer receives an immediate payment confirmation.