Consumers expect ever easier and faster services. The SCT Inst scheme delivers these by enabling pan-European credit transfers with the funds made available on the account in less than ten seconds.
With the spread of smartphones and electronic commerce, the digitalisation of the economy entails a general acceleration of payments. Customers make internet purchases anywhere and at any time, including during evening hours, weekends and holidays – periods when most traditional electronic payments are not operational. Suppliers, on the other hand, want the certainty of being paid as soon as they sell their goods and services. The SCT Inst scheme fulfils these expectations.
Several European countries planned their own solutions to the challenge of rapid payment. The problem: these national schemes would have stopped at national borders, creating a fragmented European landscape. They would have slowed the further harmonisation of payments in Europe – one of the building blocks of the single market – at a time when harmonisation of direct debits and credit transfers had finally been achieved in SEPA.
At the end of 2014, the ERPB (Euro Retail Payments Board: a high level body chaired by the European Central Bank to address strategic retail payment issues) identified the need for a pan-European euro instant payment solution, which was followed by the publication of the SCT Inst rulebook by the EPC in November 2016.
In November 2017, the EPC SCT Inst scheme became operational: a world first for a region as large as SEPA.
Regulation (EU) 2024/886, commonly referred to as the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), entered into force in April 2024, bringing significant changes to the SEPA Regulation. This new regulation introduces new mandatory requirements for instant credit transfers in euro, impacting Payment Service Providers (PSPs) located in the European Economic Area (EEA) whereby some of them already enter into force for eurozone-based PSPs (other than Payment Institutions (PIs) and Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs)) on 9 January 2025 and 9 October 2025 respectively.
The 2023 SCT Inst rulebook (version 1.2) currently in effect meets the IPR requirements effective from 9 January 2025. For IPR obligations entering into effect on 9 October 2025 for EU eurozone-based credit institutions, and at a later stage for EMIs, PIs and PSPs based in non-euro EEA countries, the 2025 SCT Inst rulebook and implementation guidelines reflect all changes necessary to ensure compliance with these obligations.
SEPA INSTANT CREDIT TRANSFER SCHEME
0 payment service providers
have already joined the scheme:
0% of European PSPs and over 0% of PSPs in the euro area.
ESTIMATED SHARE OF SCT INST VOLUMES IN
TOTAL CT* VOLUMES
At least 1 SCT Inst participant but no majority of payment accounts in the country
No SCT Inst scheme participants in the country
*SCT Inst scheme largely enumerates those having the most significant volumes in their countries.
- Compliant with the amended SEPA Regulation
The SCT Inst scheme is fully compliant with the provisions of the IPR.
The scheme will be regularly updated to address market needs and reflect the evolution of technical standards. Find out more about the biennial change management process on the dedicated page. A maximum duration of nine seconds
The payer’s PSP receives an SCT Instruction from the payer, which marks the Time of Receipt of an SCT Inst instruction. From this point onwards, the payer’s PSP, the payee’s PSP, and the clearing and settlement mechanism (CSM), have a total of nine seconds to process the transaction and make the requested funds available on the payee’s payment account.SCT Inst participants are free to agree to a shorter execution time on a bilateral or multilateral basis. More information is available on the SCT Inst options page.
Note: If the maximum execution time of 10 seconds stipulated in the amended SEPA Regulation cannot be met due to exceptional processing circumstances, the payer’s PSP will immediately restore the payer’s payment account to the state it would have been had the SCT Inst transaction not taken place.
- No maximum amount
There is no longer a maximum amount set at scheme-level for SCT Inst transactions. PSPs maintain the discretion to set maximum transaction limits on their own accord.
- 24/7/365 availability
The services based on the SCT Inst scheme are available 24 hours a day and on all calendar days of the year. However, in accordance with the amended SEPA Regulation, PSPs have the possibility of setting planned periods of non-availability of the instant credit transfer service being short and foreseeable due to a planned maintenance or downtime. The customers are to be informed in advance of those periods of non-availability. - Similarities with the EPC SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) scheme
Many elements of the existing SCT scheme are incorporated into the SCT Inst scheme. This facilitates implementation for PSPs, their customers and other market players.
Read more about the SCT Inst rulebook and implementation guidelines
SCT Inst transactions can be made in a number of European countries since November 2017 and it aims to progressively reach the 36 SEPA countries and territories. The list of participating PSPs is publicly available in the Register of Participants. All PSPs in the European Economic Area (EEA) are encouraged to adhere rapidly to the scheme.
Regulation (EU) 2024/886, commonly referred to as the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), entered into force in April 2024, bringing significant changes to the SEPA Regulation. This new regulation introduces new mandatory requirements for instant credit transfers in euro, impacting Payment Service Providers (PSPs) located in the EEA. These requirements will enter into effect starting on 9 January 2025 and 9 October 2025, and initially affect credit institutions based in the euro area.
