The EPC launches public consultations on SCT Inst scheme

The proposed scheme will be interoperable in a region as large as SEPA and is a response to European customer needs for faster payments, finyear.com reports. The SCT Inst scheme rulebook, subject to a public consultation until 10 July 2016, describes the business and technical rules that all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) wishing to adhere to this optional scheme should follow.

It states that the funds will be available on the account of the payee within ten seconds, on a 24/7/365 basis, irrespective of whether the transaction is made between two accounts in the same SEPA country or in two separate SEPA countries.

The finalised scheme rulebook will be published by the EPC in November 2016 and will be implemented in 2017. In November 2017, all live scheme participants will be ready to propose the first SCT Inst transaction solutions based on the finalised EPC SCT Inst scheme to their customers in Europe.

All payment stakeholders including PSPs, as well as end users and technical players, are encouraged to participate in the public consultation, designed to ensure that the scheme reflects market needs. The EPC will review the comments received during the public consultation in close collaboration with stakeholder representatives.

It includes new key features. The geographical scope of the scheme spans across the 34 countries which are within the scope of the current SEPA schemes. The scheme is based on the existing SEPA Credit Transfer scheme.

It applies to credit transfers made in EUR, up to an initial maximum amount of EUR 15,000 per transaction. The money will be available in the account of the payee within ten seconds. Individual scheme participants can agree bilaterally or multilaterally (e.g. within a specific SEPA country) on a lower maximum execution time and a higher maximum amount if they wish.

All adhering scheme participants will have to be technically capable to process the SCT Inst transactions on a 24/7/365 basis.