Timely start of test phase for pan-European request to pay infrastructure service of EBA CLEARING

EBA CLEARING today announced the timely start of the testing phase for its pan-European request to pay infrastructure (R2P) service, which is scheduled to go live in November 2020 in line with the launch of the SEPA Request to Pay Scheme by the European Payments Council (EPC).

Representatives of the 27 funding institutions from all over Europe took part in an online demonstration of the system earlier today.

The delivery of the system and the kick-off of the testing phase mark the latest milestone in the company’s efforts to put this infrastructure service at the disposal of its future users from the earliest possible date on, in order to support their preparations for the launch of request to pay products.

This milestone follows the publication of the R2P service specifications in December 2019, which were made available to the wider community of future users and to the technical service providers and solution providers assisting them. The development of the service has been taken forward with the support of 27 funding institutions from 11 European countries.

“We are proud to deliver this key piece of core infrastructure, which is expected to significantly improve the end-to-end payment experience for end-users in the European payments ecosystem. And we are very pleased to optimally support our users in their own development plans through the timely availability of R2P,”

said Petia Niederländer, Chairman of EBA CLEARING.

A pan-European request to pay approach is seen as the missing piece of the puzzle for market players to create innovative payment products and services for their customers that leverage real-time messaging, the SEPA schemes and existing cost-efficient payment infrastructures, and that can be used across Europe. In particular, request to pay will enable payment service providers and the broader ecosystem to create value around instant payments, for which reach is growing rapidly across Europe (see press release “EBA CLEARING’s RT1 reaches critical mass in France” of 19 June 2020).

Request to pay end-user solutions built on top of EBA CLEARING’s messaging infrastructure can increase certainty, transparency and convenience of payment processes, for instance by speeding up the end-to-end process, reducing risk and easing reconciliation.

About EBA CLEARING

EBA CLEARING is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure solutions. Founded in 1998, the company is owned by 49 of the major banks operating in Europe and is based on a country-neutral governance model. The payment systems of EBA CLEARING are pan-European by design and desire: they are developed in close co-operation with the company’s multinational user community and best-of-breed technology partners.

EBA CLEARING manages and operates the payment services EURO1, STEP1, STEP2 and RT1. Both EURO1 and STEP2 have been classified as systemically important payment systems (SIPS) by the European Central Bank. The pan-European real-time payment platform RT1 went live in 2017 and processes euro instant payments complying with the European Payments Council’s SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme.

In June 2019, the Company launched a project for the development of a request to pay infrastructure service with the support of 27 funding institutions from 11 European countries. The new service is scheduled to go live in November 2020. The list of the funding institutions is available here.

Press contact

Annick Moes
Email: a.moes@ebaclearing.eu
Phone: +49 151 1631 1526