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In January 2025 the first stage in the roll out of the EU Instant Payment Regulation (“IPR” - Regulation (EU) 2024/886) started, covering the receipt of ‘Single European Payments Area’ (“SEPA”) Instants Payments in countries with the Euro as its base currency. This will then be followed in October 2025, when the regulation extends to the origination of SEPA Instant Payments, in countries with the Euro as their official currency.
The SEPA Credit Transfer Instant (“SCT Instant”) payments will then become the default method for making payments by Payment Service Providers (“PSPs”) in the EU, rather than SEPA Credit Transfers (“SCT”) used currently.
Instant payments are credit transfers that make funds available in a payee’s account within ten seconds of a payment order being made and will also operate on a 24/7 basis. SMBC recognises the benefits available to its clients through the use of instant payments, in terms of both speed and certainty, and is therefore committed to making this functionality available.
Another feature of the regulation and of the SEPA Rulebook 2025 is the introduction of a need for a “Verification of Payee” service, which is aimed at increasing anti-fraud measures. The European Payments Council (the “EPC”) and industry is currently refining the low-level details for the scope of this delivery, which is planned to be made more widely available during the first quarter of 2025.
SMBC has begun the registration process for SCT Instant payments with the EPC. Our branch in Belgium is now ready to receive SCT Inst Payments, whereas France and Germany will offer the facility for the receipt of incoming SCT Inst payments in May 2025.
What does it mean for our customers?
SMBC will remain able to send and receive SCT payments on behalf of its clients before and after our Branches are enabled to process SCT Instant payments. Third parties wishing to send funds to an SMBC account should be encouraged to continue to use SCTs or other existing means of funds transfer while the Branches are being enabled for SCT Instant Payments.
Throughout April & May 2025, in addition to SCT payments, SMBC will be able to receive the Incoming SCT Inst Payments for customers of Belgium, France, and Germany.
Further announcements will made during the summer 2025 to outline the expected plan for the ability to support clients to make outgoing SCT Inst payments.
It should be noted that the regulation timeline for SEPA Inst processing within the UK is extended out until 2027. SMBC expect to be in a position later this year to announce its timeline for both incoming and outgoing SCT Inst payments for UK customers.
Incoming SEPA Instant Payments can be recognised by the Transaction Code “PMNT-ICDT-ESCT” followed by the Description “Instant Payment Receive Credit”, in your account statements.
We will value date SEPA Instant transactions on the calendar date on which they are executed. When an incoming SEPA Instant Payment arrives outside normal business hours, this will appear on your account on the next business day with the receipt date as the Value Date.
The regulation has set out different implementation times for credit institutions / banks (CIs) and payment institutions (PIs), and for payment service providers (PSPs) located in the Eurozone (i.e. Member States where the official currency is the euro) and in Member States outside of the Eurozone (when processing euro payments). Non-Euro denominated jurisdictions participating in SEPA are not in scope until 2027.
The current limit of EUR100K will remain until SMBC is in a position to review this amount.
Yes, existing SCT payment method will continue to be supported.
Fees for SEPA Instant Payments will be the same as current SCT payments, there will be no change to charges.
Yes, SEPA Instant Payments adhere to the same security standards as traditional SEPA payments, ensuring secure and reliable transactions.
If a SEPA Instant Payment fails, the funds are typically returned to the sender's account immediately. Common reasons for failure include exceeding transaction limits or the recipient's bank not supporting instant payments.
Yes, in case if the failure is due to exceeding limit or recipients unavailability in the scheme, then Originator can still reinitiate the payment through traditional SEPA Payments.
Because SEPA instant payment is available 24/7/365, SMBC could receive the SEPA instant payment before or after pooling has been processed. The balance will be added to the next cash pooling transfer.
CMS Help Desk (Email:emoneygerhelpdesk@gb.smbcgroup.com)