European Payments Council announced first participants to the Instant Credit Transfer Scheme. The scheme „has the potential to revolutionise international instant payments.”
Iberpay and Santander are the inaugural participants in the One-Leg Out (OLO) Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) scheme, Europen Payments Council (EPC) announced. Iberpay will act as a Clearing and Settlement Mechanism (CSM) for OCT Inst transactions via Santander, and will also be a scheme participant in the role of OCT Inst Processor. „This marks the first important milestone for the scheme, which is open for adherence since November 2023.” – EPC said.
Giorgio Andreoli – Director General of the EPC, says: „We are delighted to welcome Iberpay – as self-declared compliant CSM and OCT Inst processor – and Santander – as Euro-leg Payer/Payee and Entry/Exit PSP – as the first participants in the OCT Inst Scheme. We are proud to introduce this innovative scheme at the right moment, as we believe it aligns well with market needs and policy objectives and it has the potential to revolutionise international instant payments, making a multilateral scheme-based approach available to a multilateral world.”
Juan Luis Encinas – CEO at Iberpay, states: “The start of the EPC’s One-Leg-Out OCT Inst scheme marks a key strategic milestone for payments in Europe and for Iberpay, demonstrating our commitment to decisively enhance international cross-currency payments in terms of processing speed, 24×7 operation, information transparency, accessibility, and costs reduction. Providing the infrastructure and services necessary for processing international cross-currency instant transfers is a significant step forward for Iberpay, enabling our banks to offer new innovative services, to improve the customer experience and to remain highly competitive in the global payments industry.”
Juan Antonio Gómez Solís – Customer Success Officer at PagoNxt Payments, declares: “We’re thrilled to be playing an active role in the evolution of the global payments landscape while we enhance cross border payments for our customers. The new One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer scheme contributes to reaching the G20 and FSB objectives and to allow interoperability between cross-border payments, as well as between market infrastructures, helping ensure cross border payments are fast, frictionless, and trackable across the globe. We are committed with the initiative since the beginning, because we believe it will be a game changer for international instant payments.”
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The OCT Inst scheme is the latest payment scheme developed and launched by the EPC and it is the first EPC scheme to support transactions whereby only one of the payment service providers (PSPs) – either the Payer’s or the Payee’s – is located in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Schemes’ Geographical Scope.
OCT Inst scheme was published for the in March 2023 and the scheme itself went live on 28 November 2023.
Legal entities other than PSPs which are established and/or under oversight to operate in a country or territory included in the SEPA Schemes’ Geographical Scope can also adhere to the scheme as OCT Inst Processor. An OCT Inst Processor offers OCT Inst scheme-based services towards one or more OCT Inst participants themselves being PSPs, and formally adheres to the scheme on behalf of the participants using its services.
Anyone interested in the evolution of the OCT Inst scheme can participate in the public consultation on the 2024 OCT Inst change requests from 12 March to 09 June 2024 closing at 17h00 CET. The link below provides more details about how each stakeholder can take part in this public consultation.
Interested in joining the OCT Inst scheme?
Find out more here about the scheme and how to become a participant.
