SEPA Instant
Also known as: SCT Inst, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, Instant payments
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer is the European Payments Council's scheme for euro transfers that reach the recipient's account in under ten seconds, at any time. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/886, euro-area banks must offer sending and receiving; payment and e-money institutions and non-euro states follow in 2027.
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Example
A supplier is paid by instant transfer on a Sunday evening. The money is in their account within seconds, not on Monday or Tuesday.
A bank transfer used to take a day or two. Now it can take a few seconds, on a Sunday.
The scheme
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, written SCT Inst, is a scheme run by the European Payments Council. The EPC says it makes funds available on the payee's account in less than ten seconds, and the scheme became operational in November 2017. Under the 2025 rulebook the scheme gives its participants a maximum of nine seconds; the Regulation sets ten. Since the 2025 rulebook there is no longer a scheme-level maximum amount, and each bank may set its own limit. The Bundesbank describes the same service as processed "within seconds", 24/7/365.
The law behind it
Regulation (EU) 2024/886, the Instant Payments Regulation, made it an obligation. It inserted Article 5a into the SEPA Regulation, (EU) No 260/2012. Article 5a requires the payee's provider to make the amount available within 10 seconds of receipt of the payment order. The ECB's summary of the Regulation gives these dates:
- Euro area: payment providers had to receive instant payments, and charge no more for them than for standard transfers, from 9 January 2025. Sending and the verification-of-payee service followed on 9 October 2025.
- Non-euro EU states: receiving from 9 January 2027, sending from 9 July 2027.
- Electronic money and payment institutions: receiving and, in the euro area, sending from 9 April 2027.
Verification of payee checks the name against the account before the payer confirms, and must be free for the payer.
Why it matters to a merchant
Account-to-account methods such as Wero sit close to this rail. A payout from your provider to your bank account can arrive faster when the providers involved take part, but timing still depends on your provider's own schedule, so ask. Card settlement follows its own schedule. Whatever the speed, reconciliation still has to match each payment to its order.
The money moves in seconds. The paperwork should keep up.