What SEPA is
SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, lets people and businesses make euro payments across the EU, and to a number of countries beyond it. The European Payments Council runs its schemes: SEPA Credit Transfer, which reaches the payee's bank by the next business day, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, which puts the money on the payee's account within ten seconds at any hour, and SEPA Direct Debit for collections.
Under the EU's Instant Payments Regulation, banks in the euro area have had to receive instant payments since 9 January 2025, and to send them and check the payee's name since 9 October 2025. Banks, e-money institutions and fintechs use SEPA for salaries, bills, refunds and payouts, which is why it is the euro rail our accounts and payouts modules connect to.
What it does in your platform
Accounts & IBANs
Carries the euro traffic of every customer IBAN: salaries and transfers arrive by SEPA Credit Transfer or SEPA Instant, billers collect by SEPA Direct Debit, and customers send euros from the app once the payee's name has been checked against the IBAN.
Payouts
Pays out euros across the SEPA area, over SEPA Instant where the receiving bank takes it and as a standard credit transfer where it does not. A recall or return is matched to the payout it belongs to.
How the connection works
SEPA is a scheme, not a company with an API. The module reaches it through your bank or banking-as-a-service partner: payments go out through the partner's API, and its webhooks report what arrives and what happens to each payment.
A customer sends euros
From their account in your app, to a name and an IBAN. The module checks the balance and reserves the amount in the ledger.
The payee is checked
Verification of Payee sends the name to the payee's bank, which answers match, close match, no match or not possible. The customer sees the answer before confirming.
The partner sends it
The module instructs a SEPA Instant payment through the partner's API, and the partner hands it to the scheme for clearing.
Settled in seconds
The payee's bank accepts or rejects it within seconds, at any hour. The partner's webhook confirms the result, and the ledger and the customer's statement show it.
Mistakes can be recalled
A payment sent by mistake can be recalled through the partner, and money the payee's bank sends back is matched to the original payment in the ledger.
Next to other rails
SEPA carries euros. The Payouts module sends pounds over Faster Payments and dollars inside the US over ACH, and uses SWIFT where no local rail reaches, choosing the rail for each payout by country, currency and amount.
Access comes from your banking-as-a-service partner or your sponsor bank, through one interface. Moving to another partner later, or to direct scheme access under your own licence, changes the connector, not your app.
When SEPA fits best
A strong fit when
- Your customers hold euro accounts or are paid in euros.
- You issue IBANs, so salaries, bills and transfers all run on one rail.
- You want euro payouts that land in seconds, at any hour.
Also worth a look
- Faster Payments, ACH, SPEI or PIX for people paid in pounds, dollars, pesos or reais.
- SWIFT for euros sent to banks outside the SEPA area.
How we get you live
The partner
We help you choose the bank or banking-as-a-service partner that gives you SEPA and SEPA Instant for your countries, and get the account in place.
The rules
We set with you which payments go instant, which go standard and which need a second approval before they leave.
The keys
The partner's API keys and webhook secrets go into your platform's secrets and nowhere else.
A full test run
Payments, payee checks and recalls are tested in the partner's sandbox where it has one, then a first live payment is followed into the ledger.
