The Scheme End-User Multi-Stakeholder Group (SEU MSG) is a dialogue channel between the European Payments Council (EPC) and representatives of European associations of end-users of the EPC’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment schemes and payment-related schemes, such as consumers, corporate treasurers, e-merchants and retailers.
The SEU MSG held its third meeting on 28 March 2023. The approved agenda and minutes are available on this page.
During this meeting, the SEU MSG obtained a detailed update on the achievements for 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 SEU 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.
The SEU 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 its expected impact on the SCT Inst scheme, the European Commission’s proposal for a Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service and the EPC’s current intentions for such 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 SEU MSG was informed about the EPC setting up a multi-disciplinary work block on how to maintain the SEPA payment schemes future-proof. The SEU MSG members were invited to submit their candidacy for this work block.
The SEU MSG was reminded about 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, and about the SEPA-wide downtime on 19 November 2023 from 03h00 CET to 03h30 for the SCT Inst scheme to facilitate this migration. Several MSG members explicitly called upon the individual PSPs to actively communicate and discuss this ISO version migration with their relevant corporate customers.
The SEU MSG members were also reminded that only a structured address of the payment service user can be used in SEPA payment messages as of November 2025. This change affects all four SEPA payment scheme rulebooks. Several MSG members explicitly called upon the individual payments service providers (PSPs) to actively communicate and discuss this future exclusive use of structured addresses with their relevant corporate customers.
The SEU MSG was informed about the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) r-transaction statistics for the period 2018 to 2022.
The SEU MSG was also guided through a detailed presentation about the characteristics of the version 1.0 of the 2023 One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) scheme rulebook (EPC158-22). The EPC published the OCT Inst scheme rulebook, some adjacent documents and a separate Question & Answer (Q&A) document (EPC 095-23) on 28 March 2023.
The SEU MSG members were also invited to share possible change requests for the 2024 EPC payment scheme rulebook change management cycle.
There are still vacant seats available for representatives of European associations of users. Further information about the criteria to be a candidate, and how to apply for membership, is available in the Terms of Reference of the SEU MSG. Application letters including an up-to-date CV in English should be sent to [email protected].