STEP2 processed an average 25.8 million SCT transactions daily across January to May 2026, down from 27.1 million in the same period of 2025. February recorded the steepest year-over-year drop at 6.3 percent. May showed the mildest contraction at 3.2 percent. Average daily SCT values remained broadly stable at approximately 88 billion euro despite lower volumes.
SDD Core volumes averaged 45.7 million daily transactions in January to May 2026, up from 43.1 million a year earlier. March 2026 recorded the strongest year-over-year growth at 8.1 percent. Average daily SDD Core values rose from approximately 8.0 billion euro to 8.6 billion euro. SDD B2B volumes remained flat at approximately 388,000 daily transactions.
The SCT volume decline at STEP2 coincides with accelerating instant credit transfer adoption across the euro area. ECB data from H1 2025 showed instant credit transfers accounting for 23 percent of total credit transfer volume in euro area retail payment systems. Combined STEP2 daily volume in May 2026 was 72.7 million transactions, with SDD Core now representing 63.7 percent of all STEP2 processing.