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Payments/LV/instant-payment-requests

Instant payment requests

Instant payment requests (zibprasījumi) are Latvijas Banka's service for asking someone to pay you. You send a request, the payer only has to confirm it, and the money arrives as an instant payment. If the payer has linked their phone number in Instant Links, the phone number is all you need [1]. Latvijas Banka built the service in October 2021 [3]. But in October 2026 we found no Latvian bank that offers it to its customers. Your bank has to join first.
Country Latvia (LV)
What it is An interbank service, run by Latvijas Banka, that carries a payment request from the payee's bank to the payer's bank [1]
Banks None found offering it to customers in October 2026. Latvijas Banka tells you to watch for your bank's announcement or ask your bank [2]
Since October 2021, for banks and other payment providers to test [3]
Cost No fee published for the request service
Typical limit None of its own. The payment that follows is an instant payment, capped at €100,000 by the system, and banks may set lower limits [12]
Reaches Payers whose banks have joined Latvijas Banka's request service or another one [1]
Code on paper? No. A request goes to a phone number or an account; Latvijas Banka describes no QR code for it [1]

How instant payment requests came to Latvia

Latvijas Banka calls requests the last of its three "instant" services. Instant payments came first, in 2017, and the Instant Links phone register second [1] [6].

Date Step
3 Nov 2020 Latvijas Banka publishes its page on instant payment requests [1]
10 Jun 2021 It says it is building the service to comply with the European Payments Council's SEPA Request-to-Pay scheme, for launch in the fourth quarter of 2021 [4]
Oct 2021 Latvijas Banka finishes building the service and makes it available to payment market participants for testing [3]
1 Feb 2022 When the State Treasury joins instant payments, Latvijas Banka board member Zita Zariņa says the bank will add instant payment requests "in the near future" (tuvākajā laikā). The Treasury's head names requests as a next step for state services [5]
6 Oct 2022 Latvijas Banka's head of IT tells the RIGA COMM conference the service is "Already available!", linked to Instant Links and open to other financial institutions [6]
14 Mar 2023 Latvijas Banka last updates its Latvian page. It says the service has been available since autumn 2021, but still describes customer use in the future tense [2]

The dates don't all agree. The bank's page says the service has been available since autumn 2021 [1], and its annual report says testing began in October 2021 [3]. Yet in February 2022 a board member still spoke of requests as coming "in the near future" [5]. Read together, the infrastructure was ready in late 2021 and banks were still to offer it.

Usage. Latvijas Banka has published no usage figures for the request service. Its annual reports for 2023 and 2025 count Instant Links registrations and the new payee-name check, and don't mention requests [8] [9].

Why banks held back. At the same conference in October 2022, the Finance Latvia Association said Latvia's financial sector development plan treats request to pay as a priority. It also listed the obstacles: the service needs interbank infrastructure, businesses aren't yet aware of its advantages, and "banks do not invest because of lack of demand" [7].

How to use it

Latvijas Banka describes how it is meant to work [1] [2]:

  1. Check your bank first. You can use it only once your bank offers it. Latvijas Banka's advice is to wait for your bank's notice, or ask it when it will start.
  2. Request. You send a request for an amount to the payer. If the payer has linked their mobile number in Instant Links, you can address the request to that number, with no need for their account number.
  3. Pay. The payer sees the request and only confirms it. The amount and your details are already filled in.
  4. Receive. The money comes to you as an instant payment.

Both banks must have joined Latvijas Banka's request service or another one [1]. Latvijas Banka's examples include one person asking another for money, asking a group for the same amount (say, members of a hobby group), and splitting the cost of a shared gift [1].

How it differs from your bank app's own request. Some Latvian banking apps already let you ask for money, but only inside that bank. Latvijas Banka's service works between banks, and it follows a pan-European standard [1]. Swedbank's app, for example, sends a money request by text, e-mail or messenger, and a Swedbank customer pays it by opening the link [13].

Limits and fees

The request service has no published limit or fee of its own. What follows is a normal instant payment. Latvijas Banka caps one at €100,000, and banks may set lower limits for their customers [12]. Your bank's own request feature may cap requests lower: Swedbank's allows up to €500 per request [13]. Per-bank instant-payment limits are on our Instant Links page.

To address a request to a phone number, a bank looks the number up in the Instant Links register, and Latvijas Banka's rules limit those look-ups. A bank must make sure a private customer starts no more than 12 look-ups a minute and 150 a month [11]. The register is free for members of Latvijas Banka's clearing system and costs other users €150 a month plus VAT [10].

Limits change; check your bank's current terms.

Paying shops and businesses

Requests are meant for businesses too. Latvijas Banka says businesses and public institutions will be able to send a request with the bill's details in it. You would then pay by confirming it, without typing anything in [1]. It names bills, e-commerce and shop payments as uses [2]. Its 2022 presentation adds e-invoices and payments at the point of interaction [6].

We found no Latvian shop, biller or state body that sends them in October 2026. A Finance Latvia survey of businesses, shown in October 2022, asked whether they would be interested in request to pay; some said yes, some "yes, in 3 years", some no [7]. Latvian bills are still paid by bank transfer, or arrive in your internet bank as an e-invoice: see the Latvia payments page.

Paying across borders

Latvijas Banka designed the service to reach beyond Latvia. It is built on a pan-European standard, so requests could reach payers in other Baltic countries and across SEPA, not only in Latvia [1]. In 2021 it said the service would be "connected to the appropriate SEPA solution" [4]. We found no date or partner for that connection.

The phone-number part is Baltic: the Instant Links register serves Citadele, Swedbank, SEB and Indexo in Latvia, and Coop Pank, Swedbank, SEB and LHV in Estonia [10].

Is there an instant payment request QR code in Latvia?

No. Latvijas Banka describes requests addressed to a phone number or carrying the bill's details, and mentions no QR code [1] [2]. A request is a message passed from bank to bank, not something printed or shown. The standard it follows, SEPA Request-to-Pay, is a messaging scheme between service providers. We found no message format for the Latvian service published by Latvijas Banka.

Codes you may still meet:

  • Swedbank's money-request QR code. You show it on your phone, and someone nearby scans it to start a payment to you [13]. It belongs to Swedbank's own feature, and Swedbank does not publish its format.
  • An EPC QR code on a bill from elsewhere in the euro area. See EPC QR in Latvia for whether a Latvian app will read it.

None of the payment services Latvijas Banka lists is a QR code [15].

Safety: the request you didn't start

A payment request only moves money when the payer confirms it [2]. Fraudsters in Latvia already use that kind of confirmation. In October 2021 the State Police (Valsts policija) described sellers of puppies whom a fake buyer contacted on WhatsApp. One gave his card details and bank details and then confirmed a request in his Smart-ID app; €400 left his account. Another paid for "delivery" on a fake DPD Latvija page and lost €600. A third man confirmed Smart-ID requests for a caller posing as his bank: a €800 loan was taken out in his name and €1,150 left his account [14].

  • To receive money, you confirm nothing. With a request, the payer confirms, not the payee [2]. If you are selling something and get asked to approve a payment, it is a payment from you.
  • Read every request before you confirm it. Check who is asking, and for what. Pay only requests you expected.
  • If you've been tricked, contact your bank at once, then report it to the State Police [14].

Instant payment requests and the alternatives in Latvia

Way to pay Best for Notes
Instant payment request Asking someone at another bank to pay you Wait until your bank offers it [2]
Instant Links (phone number) Paying friends and family Live at Citadele, Swedbank, SEB and Indexo [10]
Your bank app's money request Asking a customer of the same bank Swedbank: link or QR code, up to €500 [13]
Instant transfer to an IBAN Rent, invoices, companies 24/7, up to €100,000 at system level [12]
EPC QR code A bill that carries one Not documented as supported by Latvian banking apps

Sources

  1. Latvijas Banka, "Instant payment requests", published 3 Nov 2020, updated 10 Mar 2022, read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.bank.lv/en/operational-areas/payment-systems/instant-payment-requests
  2. Latvijas Banka, "Zibprasījumi", published 3 Nov 2020, updated 14 Mar 2023, read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.bank.lv/lv/darbibas-jomas/maksajumu-sistemas-uzdevumi/zibprasijumi
  3. Latvijas Banka, "Innovation of Payment Infrastructures" (Annual Report 2021), read 20 Oct 2026. https://gadaparskats.latvijasbanka.lv/en/2021/operational-areas-of-latvijas-banka/payment-and-settlement-systems/innovation-of-payment-infrastructures
  4. Latvijas Banka (ZibLab news), "Public consultation on the SEPA Request-to-Pay Scheme Rulebook", 10 Jun 2021. https://www.bank.lv/en/component/content/article/691-tasks/payments/ziblab-news/12525-public-consultation-on-the-sepa-request-to-pay-scheme-rulebook
  5. LV portāls (Latvijas Banka press release), "Zibenīgi maksājumi – tagad arī norēķinos ar valsti", 1 Feb 2022. https://lvportals.lv/dienaskartiba/337277-zibenigi-maksajumi-tagad-ari-norekinos-ar-valsti-2022
  6. Harijs Ozols, Latvijas Banka (RIGA COMM 2022, on Finance Latvia), "Instant Payment Requests – Next Step To Complete Instant Payment World!", 6 Oct 2022. https://www.financelatvia.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/RIGA-COMM-2022-HO-Instant-Payment-Requests.pdf
  7. Finance Latvia Association (RIGA COMM 2022), "Request to Pay: what benefits it could bring to businesses and consumers?", 6 Oct 2022. https://www.financelatvia.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/LFNA_RIGACOMM_2022.pdf
  8. Latvijas Banka, "Payment and settlement systems" (Annual Report 2023), read 20 Oct 2026. https://gadaparskats.latvijasbanka.lv/en/2023/operational-areas/payment-and-settlement-systems
  9. Latvijas Banka, "Payment and settlement systems" (Annual Report 2025), read 20 Oct 2026. https://gadaparskats.latvijasbanka.lv/en/2025/areas-of-activity/payment-and-settlement-systems
  10. Latvijas Banka, "Proxy Registry "Instant Links"", published 3 Apr 2019, updated 29 Oct 2024, read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.bank.lv/en/operational-areas/payment-systems/proxy-registry-instant-links
  11. Latvijas Banka, "Latvijas Bankas Zibsaišu reģistra lietošanas kārtība" (rules no. 279/3, with amendments to 17 Mar 2025), 18 Mar 2025. https://cdn.latvijasbanka.lv/images/pielikumi/tiesibu-akti/p279-3kartiba_ar_grozijumiem_17-03-2025_PUB.pdf
  12. Latvijas Banka, "Instant payments", published 13 Feb 2017, updated 24 Mar 2025, read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.bank.lv/en/operational-areas/payment-systems/instant-payments
  13. Swedbank Latvia, "Mobile app", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.swedbank.lv/private/d2d/ebanking/mobileApp?language=ENG
  14. Valsts policija (State Police) on LV portāls, "Valsts policija brīdina par krāpnieku aktivitāti", 26 Oct 2021. https://lvportals.lv/dienaskartiba/333990-valsts-policija-bridina-par-krapnieku-aktivitati-2021
  15. Latvijas Banka, "Payment systems", read 20 Oct 2026. https://bank.lv/en/operational-areas/payment-systems

Researched 20 October 2026. Which banks offer instant payment requests may change; Latvijas Banka's and the banks' own pages are authoritative.

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