STEP2 Credit Transfer Volumes Drop 4% in Q1 2026 as Instant Payments Gain Share

EBA Clearing's STEP2 platform processed an average 25.4 million SEPA Credit Transfers per day during Q1 2026. That figure represents a 4% decline from the 26.5 million daily average recorded across full-year 2025. SEPA Instant Credit Transfers accounted for 23% of all euro area credit transfer volume in H1 2025, according to ECB payment statistics published in January 2026. That share was 16% in H2 2024.

STEP2's SEPA Direct Debit Core service averaged 45 million transactions per day in Q1 2026, up from 43.5 million in 2025. March volumes peaked at 45.9 million daily transactions at 8.6 billion euros in value.

Combined STEP2 throughput held near 70 million transactions per day in Q1 2026. Credit transfers represented 36% of STEP2 volume, down from 38% in 2025. EBA Clearing's RT1 instant payments service processed 6.53 million transactions daily in February 2026, up from 3.66 million in January 2025.