Definition
SCT Inst (SEPA Instant Credit Transfer) is the instant SEPA credit transfer: a euro transfer executed in under 10 seconds, 24/7/365.
The per-transaction ceiling was raised to €100,000 in July 2020, then removed at scheme level with the 2025 rulebook. Since the Instant Payments Regulation (EU 2024/886), it is mandatory for all eurozone banks and free for individuals, at the same price as a classic SCT.
SCT Inst vs SCT: the break in 4 points
- Speed: under 10 seconds, versus up to one business day.
- Availability: 24/7, including nights and weekends.
- Ceiling: €100,000 since 2020 (€15,000 at the start), scheme ceiling removed in 2025.
- Confirmation: payer and payee both receive immediate confirmation of execution.
The Instant Payments Regulation: 2 dates in 2025
- 9 January 2025 — all eurozone banks must be able to receive an SCT Inst.
- 9 October 2025 — they must be able to send an SCT Inst, at the price of a classic SCT (so free for individuals) and with VoP mandatory.
Banks outside the eurozone (Sweden, Poland, Romania) get extended deadlines, up to 2027 for some.
How it works
Two pan-European systems dominate the infrastructure: EBA RT1 (EBA Clearing, private) and TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement, ECB, public). A bank must join at least one of the two, which are interoperable.
What SCT Inst additionally requires
- VoP mandatory since October 2025: the payer's bank checks the name/IBAN match with the payee's bank and warns of any discrepancy.
- 24/7 availability: a major architecture undertaking (the end of nightly batches and maintenance windows).
- Graduated sanctions for non-compliance, especially after October 2025.
What SCT Inst does not change
- EUR only: no instant transfers in USD, GBP or CHF via SEPA.
- Irrevocable: once executed, just as final as a classic SCT — faster, so less window to cancel.
- Always under SCA when initiated online by a PSU.
- Not reserved for PISPs: anyone can make one from their bank's app.
In the PSD2 ecosystem
SCT Inst is the fuel for new use cases: without it, no merchant payment by PISP at checkout, no efficient P2P, no instant-debit subscription. It is the building block that finally makes Open Banking competitive with cards.
Concrete examples
- Merchant payment: at Decathlon via Fintecture, the merchant gets confirmation before you have left the page — 0% unpaid, near-zero fees. This is what threatens cards in some verticals.
- P2P: €50 sent to a friend via Lydia, Lyf or your bank's instant transfer, credited in 2 to 8 seconds.
- Urgent B2B collection: with GoCardless Instant Bank Pay or Bridge, an SME is credited the same day rather than at 60 days.
- Emergency salary: some HR platforms (PayFit, Lucca) can pay a salary on a Sunday evening — unthinkable before.
- Cost for banks: moving to real-time 24/7 cost the European banking system several hundred million euros over 2023–2025.
- Fraud risk: irrevocable and immediate, SCT Inst fuels APP scams, hence mandatory VoP. The PSR creates a right to a refund only for a customer manipulated by someone posing as their bank (art. 59, provisional numbering of the April 2026 compromise).
- Implementation: a PISP must handle the
INSTflag (in STET or Berlin Group); not all banks support it yet for sending in 2025, a situation that is being resolved by 2026.