SCT — SEPA Credit Transfer

SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) is the standard bank transfer in euro within the SEPA area. The payer sends the amount using the recipient’s IBAN; the transaction is treated like a domestic transfer between participating countries.

Key features

• Currency: Euro only.
• Identifier: The recipient’s IBAN (in most cases a BIC is not required).
• Time: The amount reaches the recipient’s bank by the next banking day at the latest (D+1).
• Charges: SEPA has no OUR/SHA/BEN options as in SWIFT; the charging principle is SLEV (payer and payee each pay their own bank’s fees). As a rule the amount reaches the payee’s bank without deductions; fees vary by bank and account package.

When is it used?

When the payment is in euro and both parties are within SEPA, SCT is the most common method. If instant delivery is required, SCT Instant is preferred.

Related tools

• Transfer time calculator
• IBAN validation

SCT times are estimates; public holidays and bank cut-off times can affect the duration.