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SEPA SCT

ACH

SEPA Credit Transfer scheme - a rulebook governed by the European Payments Council (EPC), not a single system. Processed through multiple Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms (CSMs): STEP2-T (pan-European, EBA Clearing), CORE(FR) (France, STET), RPS (Germany, Bundesbank), and various national CSMs. 36 SEPA countries. ISO 20022 native.

NowHours: computing from the published schedule…Service condition: not monitored details

ClearingPost does not assess whether SEPA SCT is running normally.

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Dated items ClearingPost holds, each with its source and whether the date is confirmed

No supported dated items in this window for SEPA SCT.

Deferred · no revised date

  • no revised date · previously 14 Nov 2026
    ISO 20022 milestone for November 2026: Unstructured addresses to be removed · recorded 31 Jul 2026source ↗

Changed

All recorded changes →

Material, sourced changes ClearingPost recorded; corrections to its own record are labelled as such

  • Took effectSEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook (2025 v1.0)

    Updated structured address requirements, alignment with SWIFT CBPR+ standards

    took effect 5 Oct 2025 · European Payments Councilsource ↗
  • Took effectSEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook (2025 v1.1)

    Revised unstructured address phase-out deadline from 22 November 2026 to 15 November 2026; introduced hybrid address format option alongside fully structured and unstructured formats. On 9 September 2026 the EPC Payment Scheme Management Board decided to maintain support for unstructured addresses beyond 15 November 2026; the PSMB will reconvene in October 2026 to set a new end date, and revised rulebooks are expected to be published by October 2026 at the latest.

    took effect 5 Oct 2025 · European Payments Councilsource ↗
  • Took effectSEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook (2023 v1.3)

    Added IBAN-only rule for euro payments

    took effect 19 Nov 2023 · European Payments Councilsource ↗

Rules & documents

The rulebooks, operating rules and standards documents ClearingPost holds for SEPA SCT, current version first

Sources ClearingPost reads ECB · Authoritative (T1) · 9 of 14 fields carry a source and a recorded date · latest sourced entry recorded 24 Sep 2026 · evidence details ↓

Record · SEPA SCT

Country
Eurozone (EU)
Currency
Euro (EUR)
Operator
EPC / CSMs
Type
ACH
Operating Window
00:00–24:00 UTC · Mon–Fri
Year Established
2008
Tier?
Tier 1
ISO 20022?
Native
Region
Europe
Settlement Type?
Net
Participants
3,540 (May 2026, EPC Register)
Avg Daily Transactions
~136M (H2 2025, euro area)
Avg Daily Value
~€831B (H2 2025, euro area)
Notes

EPC published Verification of Payee scheme rulebook v1.1, API specifications v4.1, and API Security Framework v2.1, all effective 20 September 2026, supporting PSP compliance with IPR-mandated payee verification for SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Instant Credit Transfers. Swift deferred all payments changes in Standards Release 2026 on 27 August 2026 and will consult on structured-address timing with an update by December; the EPC 2025 rulebooks (version 1.1) continue to set 15 November 2026 as the SEPA date from which the unstructured address format is no longer permitted, so the SEPA cutoff now precedes any Swift cross-border deadline unless the EPC amends it.

EPC / CSMs official website →
Reference Sources
ECB
Authoritative (T1)Entry recorded Mar 13, 2026
Status →Incident History →Statistics →Operating Schedule →
Reference Documents
SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebookrulebook
European Payments Council · 2025 v1.1 · Effective Oct 5, 2025
Latest recorded change

Revised unstructured address phase-out deadline from 22 November 2026 to 15 November 2026; introduced hybrid address format option alongside fully structured and unstructured formats. On 9 September 2026 the EPC Payment Scheme Management Board decided to maintain support for unstructured addresses beyond 15 November 2026; the PSMB will reconvene in October 2026 to set a new end date, and revised rulebooks are expected to be published by October 2026 at the latest.

Entry recorded Mar 26, 2026
View document →
See all ACH systems →See all systems in Eurozone →ISO 20022 migration status →Payment rails by country →
Products on this rail
SEPA Credit Transfercredit transfer
European Payments Council (EPC)
Other systems in the same country or region
T2 / TARGETRTGS
Eurozone · EUR · ECB / Eurosystem
SEPA SDDACH
Eurozone · EUR · EPC / CSMs
SEPA InstFPS
Eurozone · EUR · EPC / RT1 / TIPS
EURO1Hybrid
Eurozone · EUR · EBA Clearing
CHAPSRTGS
United Kingdom · GBP · Bank of England
BACSACH
United Kingdom · GBP · Pay.UK

Operations · SEPA SCT

Operational monitoring: not configured. ClearingPost does not monitor operational sources for this system and does not assess its current service condition.

Operations lists the systems ClearingPost monitors and the operational events it has recorded.

Intelligence for SEPA SCT (7)

Coverage whose headline or summary names SEPA SCT, or names its operator or country together with its system type. Each item quotes that evidence and says whether the source is the SEPA SCT operator or external.

NewsJul 3, 2026Summary names “SEPA credit transfer”
PayPal Joins European Payments Council as Second Major Fintech Member
The second major global fintech to join the EPC after Stripe's January 2025 entry, PayPal will contribute to governance of SEPA credit transfer, direct debit, and instant payment schemes used by 4,000 payment service providers across 41 countries.
Operator source · European Payments Council
AnalysisJun 15, 2026Summary names “SCT”
STEP2 Credit Transfer Volumes Run Below 2025 Levels Through May While Direct Debit Processing Accelerates
The SCT volume decline at STEP2 coincides with accelerating instant credit transfer adoption across the euro area.
External source · EBA Clearing STEP2 SCT Statistics
AnalysisMay 7, 2026Summary names “SCT”
Post-IPR Data: STEP2 Batch Credit Transfers Decline 5% While Direct Debits Grow 7%
STEP2 SCT processed 25.4 million transactions daily in Q1 2026, a 5% decline from Q1 2025. SDD Core grew 7% to 45.0 million daily from 42.2 million. The Instant Payments Regulation's pricing parity mandate is accelerating the shift from batch to instant credit transfer rails across European markets.
External source · EBA Clearing
AnalysisMay 2, 2026Summary names “SCT”
European Batch Credit Transfer Volumes Decline as Post-IPR Instant Migration Accelerates
STEP2 SCT batch credit transfer daily averages fell approximately 5% year-on-year in Q1 2026. TIPS EUR instant payment volumes surged 153% from January 2025 levels. The post-IPR structural shift from batch to instant clearing is producing measurably different outcomes across eurozone countries.
External source · ECB TARGET Services settlement statistics
AnalysisApr 29, 2026Summary names “SCT”
STEP2 Q1 2026 Shows Credit Transfer Decline Alongside Direct Debit Growth
EBA Clearing's STEP2 averaged 25.4 million daily SCT transactions in Q1 2026, approximately 5% below Q1 2024 levels of 26.6 million, while SDD Core grew to 45.0 million daily. The divergence reflects instant payment rails absorbing credit transfer traffic under IPR parity pricing obligations while direct debits retain batch processing.
External source · EBA Clearing
AnalysisApr 22, 2026Headline names “SCT”
STEP2 Batch SCT Volumes Fall 5.6% Year-on-Year as Instant Payments Gain Share Across Europe
Q1 2026 data from STEP2, STET, and KIR shows batch SCT volumes declining across European clearing as instant payment rails absorb traffic. STEP2 SCT fell 5.6% year-on-year in March. France reports instant transfers at 20% of SCT volume. Poland's Express Elixir grew 13% in Q1 2026.
External source · EBA Clearing
NewsNov 14, 2025Summary names “SEPA Credit Transfer”
Serbia's IPS Hits 106 Million Annual Transactions, Joins SEPA as 41st Country
Serbia became the 41st country added to the SEPA geographical scope in May 2025. Serbian PSPs could begin adhering to SEPA schemes from November 2025, with the earliest operational readiness date for SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant Credit Trans...
External source · NBS

Wider coverage that mentions SEPA SCT (12)

These articles mention SEPA SCT in their text but not in their headline or summary, so they are listed as context rather than as SEPA SCT intelligence.

NewsJun 19, 2026Text mentions “SEPA Credit Transfers”
CBI Extends Request to Pay to Italian Corporates Through EBA Clearing Infrastructure
Request to Pay is a messaging overlay defined by the European Payments Council under the SEPA Request to Pay scheme.
External source · FinTech Futures
NewsMay 18, 2026Text mentions “SEPA credit transfers”
AikBank Processes Serbia's First SEPA Payments as Country Reaches Operational Readiness
The European Commission formally welcomed Serbia's operational participation on May 5. Serbia is the fifth EU enlargement partner to join SEPA, following Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
Operator source · European Payments Council
RegulationMay 13, 2026Text mentions “SEPA credit transfers”
European Parliament ECON Committee Adopts PSD3 and PSR Texts, Clearing Path to Plenary Vote
ECON approved the PSD3 and PSR final compromise texts on May 5, clearing the last committee hurdle before a full Parliament plenary vote expected during the May 18-21 session. The legislation replaces PSD2 and applies 21 months after Official Journal publication, likely around March 2028.
External source · Agence Europe
NewsMay 11, 2026Text mentions “SEPA Credit Transfers”
Eighteen Serbian Banks Go Live on SEPA as Credit Transfer Processing Begins
Serbia became the 41st country admitted to the SEPA geographical scope in 2025. Serbian PSPs access the system as indirect participants through parent institutions already connected to European clearing mechanisms.
External source · Banca Intesa a.d. Beograd
AnalysisApr 17, 2026Text mentions “SCT”
European Batch Credit Transfers Contract as Instant Alternatives Accelerate
Instant payment alternatives continued absorbing batch credit transfer volume. Poland's Express Elixir processed 60 million transactions in March 2026, the first month exceeding that threshold.
External source · Bankgirot
AnalysisApr 14, 2026Text mentions “SEPA Credit Transfers”
STEP2 Credit Transfer Volumes Drop 4% in Q1 2026 as Instant Payments Gain Share
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.
External source · EBA Clearing
AnalysisApr 7, 2026Text mentions “SEPA credit transfer”
STEP2 Closes 2025 With Record December Volumes as Euro Batch Clearing Sustains Growth
The SDD Core clearing service began 2025 at 41.6 million daily transactions. By December, daily averages had climbed to 49.6 million. The intra-year increase was approximately 19%.
External source · EBA Clearing — STEP2 SCT Statistics
AnalysisMar 26, 2026Text mentions “SEPA Credit Transfer”
Western Balkans SEPA Accession Cuts Cross-Border Payment Costs Tenfold in First Five Months
World Bank data published 25 March 2026 shows business-to-business cross-border payment costs fell by up to 92 percent in Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia in the five months since SEPA accession in October 2025, with Montenegro recording a drop from EUR 73.40 to EUR 6.15 per transaction.
External source · World Bank
NewsMar 20, 2026Text mentions “SEPA Credit Transfer”
EU Proposes Turkey Join SEPA to Cut Cross-Border Transfer Costs
Following discussions between European Commissioner Marta Kos and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the EU has formally pitched SEPA membership to Turkey, a move that could reduce cross-border transfer costs from up to 40 euros to domestic rates for two economies linked by over 200 billion euros in annual trade.
External source · Turkish Minute (via Reuters)
GuideMar 12, 2026Text mentions “SEPA Credit Transfer”
Finland's Payment Infrastructure: A Practitioner's Guide to the Nordic TARGET Hub
Finland occupies a unique position in European payments: a Eurozone member that serves as the Nordic hub for TARGET services, yet lacks a domestic instant payment overlay comparable to Swish or MobilePay. Here is what practitioners need to know about Finnish payment infrastructure.
External source · ECB
Showing 10 of 12.
Not listed here: 15 tagged articles that do not mention SEPA SCT. All coverage is in Insights.