EBA Clearing's STEP2 processed 25.6 million SEPA Credit Transfers daily in March 2026, making it the strongest month of the quarter. The full Q1 2026 average was 25.4 million, approximately 5% below the Q1 2024 average of 26.6 million. The decline follows the EU Instant Payments Regulation requiring all euro-area PSPs to offer instant credit transfers at parity pricing from October 2025.
SDD Core volumes grew in the same period. March 2026 averaged 45.9 million daily transactions, up from 44.7 million in January. Daily settled values held steady at EUR 8.5 to EUR 8.6 billion through the quarter. Direct debits face no instant payment alternative because recurring mandate-based collections require advance scheduling incompatible with real-time credit transfer rails.
Combined STEP2 throughput in March 2026 reached 71.6 million daily transactions worth EUR 96 billion. Platform-wide volumes appear stable because SDD growth offsets SCT decline. STET reported that instant payments now represent 20% of all credit transfers in France, indicating the batch-to-instant migration extends beyond STEP2 to national clearing systems operating under IPR obligations.