The European Payments Council (EPC) has announced that the registration for the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme is now open for payment service providers (PSPs). The scheme's instant payments, which are based on the SEPA credit transfer scheme, will be available from November 2017.

Initially the scheme will allow euro payments of up to €15,000, which will be effected in less than 10 seconds. The continuous service will eventually be rolled out in 34 European countries.

The EPC encourages PSPs to adhere to the SCT Inst scheme as soon as possible. They can opt into the scheme as either receivers or as both originators and receivers of the instant payments.

Throughout 2017, the EPC will monitor the implementation of the scheme before it goes live on 21 November 2017. According to the EPC, the scheme's success depends on the willingness of PSPs to propose it to their customers.

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CTMfile take: The usefulness of this scheme for corporates is limited by the cap of €15,000 per payment, although this could rise in future. The scheme is also limited to payments in euros. Many corporates may feel that same-day payments, which are already available, are sufficient for most cases.