SEPA Instant Credit Transfers

The SCT Inst Mandate in Brief

SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), will enable real-time fund transfers across the European Union. The initiative is not just a regulatory update but a transformative move to ensure a widespread and rapid increase in instant payment uptake in the EU.

According to Regulation (EU) 2024/886, all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) in the eurozone, including banks and branches, must offer instant payments. This means that transferred funds must arrive in the recipient’s bank account within ten seconds, regardless of the time or day.

PSPs have until 9 January 2025 to be ready to receive instant credit transfers, in euros. Thereafter, institutions will be required to be able to send instant payments by 9 October 2025.

Also, as part of the mandate, PSPs must increase security, utilising the latest in robust fraud detection and prevention. Sanctions screening checks will be necessary (by 9 January 2025) to verify whether any clients are subject to restrictive money laundering measures. Furthermore, essential services will be needed to verify the identity of recipients of transactions (by 9 October 2025). 

How Can Bottomline Support You?

Mandating SCT Inst is so potentially disruptive for the unprepared that Bottomline believes PSPs should develop a separate roadmap for preparing for these upcoming changes.

As consumers we are becoming so accustomed to instant payments that it is hard to imagine a reality without them. In today’s instant economy, a financial institution that lacks the ability to power such transactions, in an affordable manner, will lose significant competitive advantage and face penalties for not meeting the mandate.

Bottomline helps institutions alleviate the technical and financial challenges associated with developing strategies to join mandates such as SCT Inst, in conjunction with other regulatory requirements. In partnering with Bottomline, like hundreds of other institutions, you can benefit from a fully integrated messaging and payments solution that establishes convenient connections to multiple networks under one umbrella.