Payment Explorer

SEPA Credit Transfer

How does €100 travel from France to Germany on SCT?

A non-urgent euro credit transfer: the payer’s bank, STEP2 (or TARGET2 T2 RTGS), the beneficiary’s bank.

Scheme SEPA Credit Transfer

Read the numbered story first. The switches change the situation. When a step is clear, open a technical trace to see the messages banks send.

Payer country

Where the payer’s account is. Cut-off times and the usual network can change.

Who starts it

The payer at their own bank, or a payment app they authorised (a PISP).

Which network

The system between banks that actually moves the money — not the app you tap.

How it ends

The money arrives, the other bank refuses, nobody answers in time, or a bank later asks to reverse a credit (recall).

Actor labels

Plain names (Payer / Beneficiary), ops shorthand (Orig / Bene), or ISO account sides (Dbtr / Cdtr). On SDD the creditor is Orig.

Compare with

Same €100, other scheme — see which hops differ.

What this country changes for the payer’s bank.

Cut-off

SCT batch cut-offs follow your bank’s STEP2 submission window (often late afternoon on TARGET days). Instant is 24/7.

Reachability

Euro SCT / SCT Inst reachability is near-universal in SEPA. French ASPSPs are widely on TIPS and/or RT1.

Local notes

STET PSD2 API is common for PISP initiation in France; clearing remains EPC ISO 20022.

  1. 01

    Payer→Payer’s bank

    €100Day D, before cut-offNext TARGET business day

    The payer asks their bank to send €100 to the beneficiary.

    pain.001 customer credit transfer initiation

  2. 02

    Payer’s bank→Clearing / settlement

    After cut-off batch

    The payer’s bank sends the payment into SEPA clearing.

    pacs.008 to STEP2 (SttlmMtd=CLRG, not INST)

  3. 03

    Clearing / settlement→Beneficiary’s bank

    Clearing forwards the payment to the beneficiary’s bank.

    pacs.008 delivered to creditor PSP

  4. 04

    Beneficiary’s bank→Clearing / settlement

    Scheme cycle

    The beneficiary’s bank confirms the credit.

    pacs.002 TxSts=ACSC

  5. 05

    Beneficiary’s bank→Beneficiary

    Settlement day

    €100 is available on the beneficiary’s account.

    camt.054 credit notification

Go deeper

The same journey as ISO 20022 messages. Open one when you want the sequence and the XML.

Try in live showcase