Deutsche Bank has released its first application programming interface (API) for single euro payments area (Sepa) instant payments in the market in a joint initiative with Serrala, the global business-to-business (B2B) fintech software group formerly known as Hanse Orga until its rebranding last June.

The initiative is described as an important first step facilitating real-time treasury and allowing payments to be processed 24/7 within less than 10 seconds. The new interface is part of the Serrala FS2 Payments for SAP solution and sets the basis for end-to-end automation of payment processes through integration in the customer’s SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP system. The solution lays the foundation to accelerate and digitalise both treasury processes and end-to-end business workflows.

The Sepa Instant Credit Transfer scheme, aka SCT Inst, was developed by the European Payments Council (EPC) and sets the standard that digital payments must be executed within 10 seconds. This payment method has been available since November 2017, but until now has required mostly proprietary bank solutions. Deutsche Bank and Serrala say they have developed the first API that enables corporates to initiate payments instantly through their SAP ERP system.

Second phase planned

The initiative partners add that they are working closely with their clients to understand their payment demands. In a first step, the Sepa instant payment API will be available to capture, process and manage manual payments in SAP systems. Deutsche Bank and Serrala plan to expand the solution to include other payment systems in a second phase.

Thomas Stosberg, director, corporate cash management sales, Deutsche Bank, says: "Combining Sepa Instant Payments with API technology creates new opportunities for our customers. Corporates benefit from an end-to-end integration of their business processes via treasury components to the bank and vice versa and receive an immediate confirmation of their payments."

Stephan Benkendorf, chief domestic officer, Serrala, adds: “Our API transforms payment processing from scheduled batch payments to real-time processing, accelerating payments significantly.”