SOFORT

Sofort, now part of Klarna, is an online bank-transfer service used mainly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. It gives a merchant instant confirmation of a payment that is, underneath, an ordinary SEPA transfer.

How it works — and the part to understand

Instead of you copying an IBAN into your banking app, Sofort opens a page where you enter your own online banking credentials and a transaction code. Sofort logs in on your behalf, checks the balance, and initiates the transfer. The broker is told immediately that the payment is on its way and credits the trading account at once, while the money settles over the following day or two.

That mechanism is why some banks' terms discourage or refuse it, and why some traders decline to use it: the credentials go to a third party rather than to your bank directly. It is a long-established, licensed service and not a phishing arrangement — but only ever reach it through the broker's own cashier, never through a link in an email. A fake Sofort page is a credential harvester with a perfect disguise.

Deposit only

Sofort initiates payments in one direction. A broker that accepts it pays withdrawals by SEPA transfer to your bank account instead, usually the same account the deposit came from. In practice you get instant funding in and normal European settlement out, which is a reasonable trade.

Costs

There is no fee to the payer; the merchant carries it, and brokers typically absorb it rather than pass it on. Because the transfer runs on SEPA in euro, there is no currency conversion at all as long as your trading account is denominated in euro — which makes it cheaper than a card deposit for a euro account.

Alternatives

Open banking has produced newer services with the same instant confirmation that authenticate inside your own bank app rather than by collecting credentials. Where a broker offers one alongside Sofort, prefer it.