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The multi-stakeholder group for Mobile Initiated SEPA Credit Transfers (including SCT Instant)

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Today, SEPA Instant Credit Transfers are becoming a reality within SEPA and the usage of the mobile channel for the initiation of such payments is expected to be key for the take-up of this type of payments. There also seems to be a growing interest from retailers in SCT-based payments both for in-store payments and for mobile commerce as a complement to card payments. In a number of European countries various solutions have already been introduced in the market. There is currently a time window to develop guidance for Mobile Initiated SEPA (Instant) Credit Transfers, which should aim at a harmonisation and interoperability for these payments across SEPA. 

Therefore, the EPC has decided in 2018 to facilitate an ad-hoc multi-stakeholder group (MSG) covering the various sectors involved in the mobile payment ecosystem to address interoperability of Mobile Initiated SEPA (Instant) Credit Transfers, while leveraging the relevant documentation developed in standardisation and industry bodies. The mandate for this group may be found below.
 
Through an open call for participation on this website in March-April 2018, the group has been set up and its composition is shown on this page. The agenda and minutes of the Plenary meetings of the MSG MSCT are regularly published on this website. The group has also established three work-streams (WSs) to enhance the work progress: WS MSCT use cases, WS MSCT technical interoperability and WS risk and security. Through this open approach, payment service providers, technology vendors, retailers, consumers, mobile network operators, other service providers, relevant associations and other interested stakeholders are directly involved in the development of the interoperability guidance for MSCTs.

A first document published by the MSG MSCT is the MSCT Interoperability Guidance (MSCXT IG - EPC269-19v1.0) which maybe be downloaded via a link below. The document focuses on interoperability for MSCTs that would allow for a pan-European reach while covering customer-to-business, business-to-business and person-to-person payments. Hereby not only m-commerce payments (browser or mobile app based) but also in-store payments initiated through a proximity technology such as Quick Response (QR) codes, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Near-Field-Communication (NFC) etc. are considered. The document aims through the description of MSCT use cases to provide an insight into the main issues related to the mobile initiation of (instant) SEPA credit transfers in the different payment contexts. Next to the MSCT transaction aspects such as payer identification/authentication, transaction authentication, risk management and payer/beneficiary acknowledgements and notification messages, it focuses on the technology and security used in the customer-to-ASPSP space since the SCT Instant and SCT transaction as such have already been specified in the respective SCT rulebooks.

While producing this document, the multi-stakeholder group has identified a number of “major challenges and barriers” that are described in the document and that will need to be properly addressed to achieve full interoperability for MSCT transactions. Those aspects have been further analysed during the past years which resulted into two additional publications, which may be downloaded from the link below:

In these documents, a more detailed analysis on the technical interoperability of MSCTs is conducted. They focus on the interconnectivity and related functionality needed amongst MSCT service providers to enable interoperability of MSCTs across SEPA. More in particular, the process flows have been analysed depending on the content of the data exchanged between the payer and payee (e.g. a token). The documents also define the minimum data set to be exchanged between the payer and the payee and in the payment request messages, if present, to enable the initiation of such an MSCT. They further derive from these data sets two standard QR-code formats.

The work of the MSG MSCT has also been leveraged by the ERPB Working Group on an Interoperability framework for Instant Payments at the Point of Interaction (IPs at POI) for which more information may be found here below: 

Under the new extended mandate (MSG MSCT 091-20, see below), the MSG MSCT will continue to analyse new MSCT use cases for specific payment contexts, their interoperability challenges and interoperability models for MSCTs involving a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) or a Collecting Payment Service Provider (CPSP) on behalf of the merchant. Moreover, the MSG MSCT is preparing a 2nd release of the MSCT IG by the end of this year.  

Note that all documents published by the MSG MSCT undergo a public consultation prior to final publication.

The MSCT documents aim to contribute to a further integration of SEPA payments in the European digital market with a special focus on the customer experience: availability and ease of use.

Those interested to follow the work of the Multi-Stakeholder Group on Mobile Initiated SEPA (Instant) Credit Transfers more closely, can apply to become a participant in the interest group by sending an application to the following address: [email protected]

Read all documents published by the MSG MSCT