Glossary · Payment methods
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer
Also called SCT Inst, Instant payment
SEPA Instant is a euro transfer that reaches the recipient within 10 seconds, at any hour. EU banks must offer it at no extra cost.
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer moves euros between accounts in under 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Unlike a standard transfer, the payment is final and usable immediately.
The EU’s Instant Payments Regulation made it mandatory: banks in the euro area had to be able to receive instant payments from January 2025 and send them from October 2025, and may not charge more for an instant transfer than for a standard one. The same rules introduced verification of payee for euro transfers.
For suppliers, instant payment removes the “it’s in the system” stage. A customer who says they have paid can show the money arriving in seconds.
Example
On a Saturday evening, a client pays a €2,300 overdue invoice by SEPA Instant to release a delivery planned for Monday. The supplier sees the money within seconds.