The European Payments Council has gone live with a new cross-currency payment scheme designed to enable international instant credit transfers.
The launch of the OCT Inst scheme marks a significant development for the EPC as it is the organisation’s first venture outside of the geographical scope of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
Announcing the scheme, the EPC said it will support the processing of incoming and outgoing international, instant account-to-account based credit transfers. In a key distinction from other EPC payment schemes, it is the first such scheme to exclusively cover the Euro Leg of international instant credit transfer entering or leaving the geographical scope of SEPA.
In addition to bringing SEPA payment scheme benefits to international payments, the EPC has framed the initiative as a response to the European Commission’s Retail Payments Strategy on strengthening the international role of the euro.
It means that Payment Service Providers (PSPs) in charge of the Euro Leg will be able to make use of existing SEPA payment ‘rails’ – including procedures, standards and agreements with clearing and settlement mechanisms (CSMs), the EPC said.
Giorgio Andreoli, Director General of the EPC, said: “The new One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) scheme is the first non-SEPA scheme delivered by the EPC, targeting international (instant) account-to-account payment transactions.
He added: “The OCT Inst scheme leverages the large and growing base of European PSPs already supporting the SCT Inst scheme (currently 62% of PSPs in SEPA), adding on top of the speed, low cost and reachability already provided by the SCT Inst scheme the transparency and traceability required by the G20 and the Financial Stability Board.
“The EPC is proud to release at the right point in time an innovative scheme with a strong market fit, as we believe that a multilateral scheme approach could be a game changer for International instant payments”.
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