The Scheme Technical Player Multi-Stakeholder Group (STP MSG) is a dialogue channel between the European Payments Council (EPC) and representatives of technical players who provide services facilitating the processing of transactions under the EPC’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment schemes and payment-related schemes.
The STP MSG held its fourth meeting on 13 September 2023. The approved agenda and minutes are available on this page.
During this meeting, the STP MSG discussed in depth the implementation status at the level of Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms (CSMs) for the change-over to the 2019 version of the ISO 20022 standard-based XML messaging on 19 November 2023 for all four SEPA payment schemes. One CSM explicitly expressed its wish to postpone this migration to 2024. The other CSMs expressed their deepest concerns about a change-over postponement.
The STP MSG was informed about discussions within SWIFT to possibly refrain from introducing the exclusive use of structured addresses as of November 2025 and to consider instead the introduction of a hybrid address. The SEPA payment schemes currently impose the exclusive use of structured addresses as of November 2025. The STP MSG members expressed their views on these developments within SWIFT and on what the EPC could do.
The STP MSG further discussed the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme implementation status at that point in time. The main topics were the European Commission’s proposal on instant payments and possible EPC steps, the European Commission’s proposal for a Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service and the EPC’s current intentions for such a CoP concept, the SCT Inst scheme adherence status and projections, and the prospects and current obstacles for the further use of the SCT Inst scheme by payment end-users.
The STP MSG was also informed about the outstanding EPC deliverables prior to the launch of the One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) scheme on 28 November 2023. It also held an extensive debate about two issues considered to be major by one CSM for the implementation of OCT Inst scheme based CSM services.
The STP MSG members were briefed about the timeline of the 2024 EPC payment scheme rulebook change management cycle and were also invited to share possible change requests.
The STP MSG also obtained a detailed update on the status of the EPC SEPA Request-To-Pay (SRTP) scheme rulebook and on the next steps the EPC was currently considering for this EPC payment-related scheme. The STP MSG also discussed the SRTP scheme implementation status at that point in time and any current obstacles for the further use of that scheme by payment end-user groups.
Finally, the STP MSG was informed about the re-composition process of the STP MSG for a new mandate of two years as of 2024.