The European Payments Council (EPC) multi-stakeholder group on mobile initiated SEPA (instant) credit transfers (MSCTs) has prepared the draft third release of the “Mobile Initiated SEPA (Instant) Credit Transfer Interoperability Guidance (MSCT IG - EPC269-19)”.
Following the previous release published in February 2022, this new release essentially focuses on technical interoperability aspects. A limited number of use-cases are detailed in the document, representing payee-presented mode, payer-presented mode and the mode relying on Payment initiation Service Providers (PISPs). The detailed processing flows, aligned with the selected use-cases and relevant to successful and unsuccessful transactions, in contexts requiring interoperability, were also included. While more details on certain topics were covered in the previous version or separate EPC publications (e.g. security aspects, use of proximity technologies, overview of underlying SCT and SCT Inst schemes, specification of QR-codes for MSCTs), for simplification purposes other options for the related maintenance process will be followed, so that these topics are no longer developed in the third version. A thorough review and relevant updates, e.g. in the light of the recently adopted European Union (EU) regulation on Instant Payments (IPR), were also made.
This version still defines the minimum data sets for all interoperability messages between the respective MSCT service providers of the payer and the payee. The additional interoperability models involving PISPs or a Collecting PSP (CPSP) on behalf of the merchant have been maintained and updated. Finally, the document identifies the main interoperability challenges but also opportunities for MSCTs.
Note that subjects such as business cases and revenue models for the MSCT value chain are in the competitive space and therefore are not addressed in this document.
In order to help developing a successful MSCT ecosystem that provides value for all, it is very important to gather industry opinion and feedback regarding this draft new release. The multi-stakeholder group values your opinion and welcomes any feedback and comments that you may have regarding the document, using the dedicated questionnaire (EPC143-24v1.0).
Feedback should be sent to [email protected] by 26 July 2024.