On 30 November 2020, the European Payment Council (EPC) published the first version of its Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Request-To-Pay scheme (SRTP) rulebook. SRTP is a messaging functionality that complements the end-to-end payment flow because it allows a payee to request the initiation of a payment from a payer in a wide range of both physical and online use cases. Today, the scheme is set to take off and already counts registered participants, as well as a pipeline of new ones that are going to launch soon. Check out its most significant benefits, achievements, latest updates, and future goals.
The SRTP scheme covers a compelling functionality that complements the use of credit transfers for a better end-to-end payment user experience in retail transactions, e-invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) transactions – i.e., Business-to-Customer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B), and Business-to-Government (B2G) –, and proximity Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions.
The SRTP helps streamline the end-to-end payment experience for all parties involved and facilitates reconciliation. Moreover, the scheme aims to facilitate the request of a payment in a digital manner (including interoperability and reachability) and allows payees to express their payment preferences (e.g., pay now/pay later) in alignment with their specific needs.
The SRTP scheme can be considered a complement to the payments flow because it supports the end-to-end process and lies between the underlying commercial transaction and the payment itself. The SRTP as such can be seen as an enabler for digital payments, especially in connection with instant payments.
Following a three-month public consultation made with the close involvement of stakeholders from the entire payment value chain, the EPC published the third version of the SRTP rulebook on 24 November 2022. The rulebook will become effective on 30 November 2023 and will include all the functionalities needed to enable the proper functioning of the scheme (including enrolment and activation processes) and a set of new features requested by the market – e.g., redirect option, instalment payments, request for guarantee, request for payment initiation status.
As of 30 November 2023, the capability to use Application Programming Interfaces (API) for exchanges between SRTP scheme participants will also become mandatory to ensure full reachability. To this end, a set of EPC default API specifications were published in June 2022 and the API security framework in March 2023. However, SRTP scheme participants are free to use other commercially available or custom APIs, as long as they secure interoperability with the EPC default APIs.
As this is now a fully stable scheme, it will follow a regular maintenance cycle of two years (aligned with the payment scheme’s cycle). The EPC objective is now to foster adherence and utilisation of the scheme from the market. The next version of the scheme should only include maintenance changes.
The EPC is looking to implement various SRTP scheme-related deliverables:
Since 21 April 2023, any Technical Solution Provider (TSP) that wishes so may decide to undertake a specific SRTP homologation. A duly homologated TSP will become a Referenced Technical Solution Provider (RTSP) and will be featured on a list published on the EPC website. The applicants using an RTSP will be eligible for a simplified homologation.
In addition to the standard homologation and the simplified homologation (simplified A homologation) for applicants that have already gone through a relevant formal authorisation/licencing process, and/or are subject to specific regulatory/supervisory requirements, two new homologation types were launched:
- the simplified B homologation for applicants using an RTSP;
- the simplified A+B homologation (ATB) for applicants that have already gone through a relevant formal authorisation/licencing process, and/or are subject to specific regulatory/supervisory requirements and are using a RTSP.
In July 2023, the homologation with APIs has been launched. Applicants that want to use SRTP-related APIs for their exchanges with other SRTP scheme participants are now able to perform this homologation directly.
This version of the homologation process will become mandatory as of 30 November 2023, and the registered participants that have gone through the homologation without APIs will have to perform this homologation with APIs before 30 November 2023 (at no additional cost). The homologation without APIs will disappear at that date.
The Clarification Paper on the SRTP rulebook version 3.0 was published at the end of May 2023.
The EPC default API specifications based on the third version of the SRTP scheme rulebook and version 3.0 of the SRTP scheme Implementation Guidelines were published at the end of June 2023.
The call for change requests for the next version of the SRTP scheme rulebook is open and will run until 29 December 2023.
At the beginning of 2024, a new Operational Scheme Manager (OSM) function is expected to be launched, to further improve interoperability and reachability within the scheme.
This editorial piece was first published in the Payment Methods Report 2023, which provides an in-depth overview of the latest worldwide developments in how people pay, the payment methods space, the innovative technologies that these methods work upon, and the best strategies on how to win at conversion and retention.
Dominique Allebroeck is Senior Business Analyst at the European Payments Council. She coordinates the maintenance and evolution of the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) scheme and of the SEPA Proxy Lookup (SPL) Scheme.
The European Payments Council (EPC), an international not-for-profit association representing payment service providers, supports and promotes European payments integration and development, notably the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The primary task of the EPC is to manage the SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Proxy Lookup, SEPA Request-to-Pay, SEPA Payment Account Access, and One Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer schemes in close dialogue with all stakeholders. The EPC is also active in the fields of cards and mobile payments, including Person-to-Person, payment security, and cash.
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