The primary mission of the EPC is to manage the SEPA payment schemes, which are the rules underlying most of the euro credit transfers and direct debits in Europe. The EPC also manages a one-leg out instant credit transfer scheme to support international instant payments between SEPA countries and non-SEPA countries.
A broad range of payment stakeholders are involved in developing the schemes to ensure they keep meeting market needs and technological evolutions.
The EPC offers four payment schemes that make paying across SEPA as easy and convenient as it is in one’s home country.
The SEPA Credit Transfer scheme
The SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme
The SEPA Direct Debit Core and Business-to-Business schemes
The EPC also offers a one-leg out credit transfer scheme with the aim to make international payments between SEPA and non-SEPA countries as easy, convenient and instant as it is when paying instantly within SEPA.
Schemes used by thousands of payment service providers
The EPC payment schemes are used by close to 4,000 payment service providers (PSPs) in Europe.
Each year, they contribute towards facilitating:
- In total, over 46 billion euro transactions in SEPA.
- Including more than 24 billion credit transfers.
- And over 21 billion direct debits.
Evolution of the schemes
The EPC updates the schemes every two years to reflect market needs and evolutions in technical standards. This evolution is guided through a transparent change-management process that is open to all stakeholders.
EPC payment scheme evolution calendar
The scheme evolution process always follows the same path: first, all stakeholders are invited to submit requests for change to the EPC based on the latest rulebooks published. All the change requests received are then subject to a three-month public consultation to ensure they are broadly supported by the payment community. Updated rulebooks, including changes that are technically and legally feasible, are published afterwards.
If you are interested in participating in the evolution of the schemes, links are provided below to each scheme’s public consultation page, where further information is available:
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme
SEPA Direct Debit Business-to-Business scheme
Note: the One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer scheme will be subject to its first scheme evolution cycle in 2024.