The European Payments Council (EPC) is today launching the public consultation on the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme. The proposed scheme is the first in the world to be interoperable in a region as large as SEPA and is a response to European customer needs for faster payments.

Development of rulebook needs all stakeholders to get involved

The SCT Inst scheme rulebook, subject to a public consultation until 10 July 2016, describes the business and technical rules that all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) wishing to adhere to this optional scheme should follow. It states that the funds will be available on the account of the payee within ten seconds, on a 24/7/365 basis, irrespective of whether the transaction is made between two accounts in the same SEPA country or in two separate SEPA countries.

All payment stakeholders including PSPs, as well as end users and technical players are encouraged to participate in the public consultation, designed to ensure that the scheme reflects market needs. According to Javier Santamaría, Chair of the EPC, “The new scheme will be a turning point in making pan-European instant credit transfers in euro a reality. We look forward to the participation of all PSPs and technical players in the public consultation for this project, which will be the first of its kind in a region as large as SEPA.”

Key features of the optional scheme

The key features of the optional scheme are outlined below:

• the geographical scope of the scheme spans across the 34 countries which are within the scope of the current SEPA schemes.
• the scheme is based as much as possible on the existing SEPA Credit Transfer scheme and still includes many of its successful features. This has been designed to facilitate a faster and cheaper implementation for scheme participants.
• it applies to credit transfers made in euro, up to an initial maximum amount of 15,000 euro per transaction.
• the money will be available in the account of the payee within ten seconds.
• individual scheme participants can agree bilaterally or multilaterally (e.g. within a specific SEPA country) on a lower maximum execution time and a higher maximum amount if they wish.
• all adhering scheme participants will have to be technically capable to process the SCT Inst transactions on a 24/7/365 basis.

Target instant SCT users

The EPC claim that, “SCT Inst transactions will be convenient for customers needing to send money across Europe quickly, such as in an urgent situation (currently, with a traditional credit transfer, it can take up to one day for the funds to be moved from an account to another). They will also provide a viable alternative in situations where cash is currently used, e.g. when having to pay a bill on the spot, or when sharing a bill with friends at a restaurant.”

How to participate in the public consultation

The draft rulebook, the response template, and the instructions to participate in the public consultation are available on the EPC website, see. Stakeholders wishing to participate must take note that the public consultation will last three months and end on 10 July 2016.

All stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the public consultation and to share their feedback on the proposed SCT Inst rulebook and the maximum amount per SCT Inst instruction by sending the completed response template,  (EPC060-16 a ‘Related page’ on above page) by email to:

change-request.EPC-scheme@epc-cep.eu

by 10 July 2016 at the latest.

Finalising the SCT Inst scheme rulebook and launching the service

The EPC will review the comments received during the public consultation, in close collaboration with stakeholder representatives.

The finalised scheme rulebook will be published by the EPC in November 2016 and will be implemented one year later. In November 2017, all live scheme participants will be ready to propose the first SCT Inst transaction solutions based on the EPC SCT Inst scheme to their customers in Europe. EPC believe that, “The short period between the publication of the scheme and the first SCT Inst transactions demonstrates the payment industry’s confidence in PSPs to adapt well to customers’ needs, and quickly implement major changes.”