More EU Countries Get Instant Credit Transfers Through SEPA

The European Payments Council has announced the launch of its Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), which enables nearly 600 payment service providers from eight European countries to offer instant payment solutions.

SCT Inst allows the electronic transfer of money – currently up to 15,000 euros – across Europe in less than 10 seconds, at any time and on any day of the year, including weekends and holidays. The transactions must be denominated in euros.

The transfers are currently available at nearly 600 PSPs in Austria, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Spain. Individuals, businesses, corporations and administrations can now make and receive instant euro credit transfers within their national borders as well as cross-border (starting with these eight countries), with the funds being immediately available.

Over time, SCT Inst will expand to more than 34 European countries, with the other PSPs from the following countries expected to join the scheme in 2018 and 2019: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

In addition, starting in November 2018, the maximum amount per transaction will be regularly reviewed. An increased maximum amount will make the scheme more attractive for companies.

“With its numerous advantages, the SCT Inst scheme fully anchors European payments in the anywhere, anytime digital world,” said Javier Santamaría, chair of the EPC. “SCT Inst is the only regional initiative of this kind in the world. The European payment community can be proud of the work achieved to make instant euro credit transfers a reality today. I can only encourage those who have not joined SCT Inst yet to do it as soon as possible. This enhanced European payments integration will have tremendous benefits for European consumers and businesses alike.”