A brand new booking location for SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) is now live in Luxembourg, adding to existing capabilities in Ireland and Germany, and further consolidating J.P.Morgan’s product offering in the region.

The branch expansion allows European clients (both resident and non-resident), to send and receive SEPA Instant transactions on this location, and complements the full suite of J.P. Morgan payments and liquidity products. SEPA Instant is the European Payments Council (EPC) real time payments scheme¹, enabling pan-European credit transfers with funds made available on beneficiary accounts in less than 10 seconds. Luxembourg is a key location, and following Frankfurt and Dublin, showcases a concentration of Real Time Payments (RTP) demand and pipeline.

J.P. Morgan’s Frankfurt offering has been live since 2019 and provides a critical part of the European Payments offering for clients. Dublin and Luxembourg branch offerings were both launched in 2022 and provide clients with greater optionality in the European landscape.

Key benefits of SEPA Instant

The main use cases for SEPA Instant Credit Transfers are person-to-business flows, though in the market they also support person-to-person. Some examples are payment of a share of a bill, gig economy pay outs, services requiring on-the-spot payment and the purchase of high-value goods between individuals. The 24/7 availability of funds can help business customers improve their cash-flow management and can be used in the B2B/B2C space.

The offering is cheaper than Wires, faster than ACH and is underpinned by a single ISO 20022 XML file format for consistency and data richness. The full principle value of the payments stays intact, with no deductions permitted.

The three European hubs have also been integrated with the brand-new Global Payments API, allowing J.P. Morgan clients to access multiple real-time payment systems across the globe via one API. The API is already live with multiple markets including UK Faster Payments (FPS), Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Brazil and USA.

Launched in 2017, SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) is a ‘push‘ payment initiated by an originator. It allows for the payment in Euros to all counterparties in all SEPA countries. Payments are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year… all in less than 10 seconds, with no exceptions. The individual transaction limit is €100,000.

The SEPA Instant value proposition has several components:

• Speed and finality: Enables payments and receipts for all SEPA Instant transactions to be completed in seconds. Instant payments have finality and visibility benefits for clients, including no returns, reversals or chargebacks. No cut off times apply to payments allowing clients optionality on sending urgent payments if they miss cut-offs from other payment methods.
• Reach: SEPA Instant brings efficiencies of single, standardised, transaction type, as an alternative to regular SEPA or EUR wires, across countries (dependent on banks in EMEA locations offering the services), offers significant operational and financial benefits to our clients.  For J.P. Morgan Payments clients, the benefits of SEPA Instant go beyond the simple transaction itself.  By extension, it will be a key tool in helping improve the overall efficiency of an organisation’s operations through improved cash flow management, improved liquidity management, improved financial risk management and improved operational risk management.

Connie Blacklock, EMEA Head of Real Time Payments, J.P. Morgan Payments, said:  “The rollout of SEPA Instant to two new locations in 2022 alone evidences our commitment to delivering a pan-European offering, and RTP access for multiple locations to meet the evolving needs of our clients who want to base their euro activity in Dublin and Luxembourg. The continued growth and demand for SEPA Instant is a key driver behind our decision to now offer SCT Inst from 3 branches.”

Real-time Payments (RTP) combines immediate funds availability, settlement finality, instant confirmation, and integrated information flows—all in a payment made in seconds. Bringing together speed, data, and communication solves for longstanding challenges.

In December 2021, J.P. Morgan also became a participant of the European Central Bank clearing, TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment settlement), another SEPA Instant clearing, alongside RT1. Being a member of RT1 and TIPs has increased J.P. Morgan’s SEPA Instant reachability to 28 countries, including Greece, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia - with further growth expected as more banks and markets join SEPA Instant and with Croatia set to join the Euro in 2023.

Connect with your J.P. Morgan representative to find the right financing solution for your business

Receive key updates and news with relevant actionable insights and best practices — including the latest intelligence on payments trends, digital innovation, regulatory change, ESG and sustainable financing and much more.

Subscribe to THE MONTH IN…Treasury & Payments

^{The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of J.P. Morgan, its affiliates, or its employees. The information set forth herein has been obtained or derived from sources believed to be reliable. Neither the author nor J.P. Morgan makes any representations or warranties as to the information’s accuracy or completeness. The information contained herein has been provided solely for informational purposes and does not constitute an offer, solicitation, advice or recommendation, to make any investment decisions or purchase any financial instruments, and may not be construed as such.}

^{JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC.}

^{JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., organized under the laws of U.S.A. with limited liability.}