Erwin Kulk is Head of Service Development and Management at EBA CLEARING. In this position, he manages EBA CLEARING’s payment services EURO1, STEP2 as well as RT1 and leads the development of new services.
Improving the cost, speed, access and transparency of cross-border and cross-currency payments is a global priority – crystallised in the G20 Roadmap launched in 2020. Among its key pillars is the move towards instant cross-border payments.
One of the initiatives driving this forward is the European Payments Council’s (EPC) One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) Scheme, which leverages existing infrastructure building blocks, standards and procedures to enable the instant processing of the euro leg of cross-border transactions. Its widespread adoption could be pivotal to translating the G20’s vision into execution ahead of the end-2027 deadline.
Achieving this will require collective action, the development of harmonised pan-European market practices that guarantee a better cross-border experience, and the creation of a frontrunner group to reach critical mass. The work of this group will be an important step in upscaling the cross-border payments experience for end-users. Fortunately, such a group has recently been formed – and work is already underway.
Responding to the industry’s call to action, as set out in the Euro Banking Association’s (EBA) recent white paper, Get ready for OCT Inst!, 10 leading multinational banks – namely Barclays, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, J.P. Morgan, and Société Générale – have joined forces to accelerate OCT Inst adoption and reach. Within two years, these institutions will be reachable through EBA CLEARING’s RT1 OCT Inst Service, which is fully compliant with the EPC scheme and already live in production.
The destination is clear: to leverage the RT1 infrastructure building blocks and unlock the benefits of OCT Inst for customers in a reliable, cost-effective way. The journey, however, comes with complexities – from aligning technical standards and defining industry-wide milestones to ensuring consistent service levels across payment corridors.
That’s why, as an initial step, the frontrunner group will work together to develop a practical roadmap for OCT Inst adoption. At the same time, the EPC will continue to promote the scheme and, where needed, fine-tune its design to support broad adoption and interoperability.
As this work progresses, the group is inviting additional PSPs to join the initiative, align to the shared timeline, and help expand OCT Inst coverage by 2027.
According to the recent progress report from the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on the G20 Roadmap the industry remains significantly off pace. That’s why initiatives like OCT Inst are so important – they offer a tangible way forward, leveraging building blocks and investments already in place today.
But this is only part of a broader story. At a global level, Swift has announced a new network scheme for retail cross-border payments, designed to further ramp up speed and predictability worldwide. Launched in September 2025 with more than 30 participating banks, the initiative will introduce network rules that will ensure upfront transparency on payment costs, guaranteed full value delivery, end-to-end visibility and a commitment to instant settlement where available.[i]
Swift’s initiative is a complementary measure that will help to enhance cross-border payments together with OCT Inst – ensuring that whether payments are regional or global the experience is consistently fast, transparent and reliable. The true test, however, lies in translating intent into action – and that will depend on genuine collective effort: PSPs, schemes and infrastructures uniting around shared outcomes that strengthen the entire cross-border payments ecosystem.
[i] https://www.swift.com/news-events/press-releases/swift-set-new-rules-retail-cross-border-payments-its-network-bold-move-further-ramp-speed-and-predictability
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