- The European Central Bank has rolled out the first pan-eurozone instant payment service called TIPS system.
- TIPS system will allow consumers and businesses across the 19-nation euro area to send and receive money in mere seconds, without the usual lags associated with online and real-world transactions.
- The service is a direct challenge to the “digital wallets” provided by the likes of Google, Apple, Amazon or China’s Alibaba and Tencent, which offer contactless, super-fast online payments and have exploded in popularity.
- The eurozone is a monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro (€) as their common currency and sole legal tender. It consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
