SCT Inst — SEPA Instant Credit Transfer

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 and the future extension of reimbursement under the PSR.
Implementation: a PISP must handle the INST flag (in STET or Berlin Group); not all banks support it yet for sending in 2025, a situation that is being resolved by 2026.