Form3 and SumUp have announced the expantion of their partnership to extend real-time SEPA payment capabilities to European merchants.
Following this announcement, Form3 and SumUp have expanded their existing partnership to bring SEPA Instant, SEPA Credit Transfer, and SEPA Direct Debit capabilities to SumUp's European merchant base. The expansion builds on an existing collaboration covering UK payment schemes, under which SumUp already connects to Faster Payments and Bacs through Form3's cloud-native payments platform.
With this initiative, SumUp will consolidate its European and UK payment processing through a single platform provider. The move is intended to reduce infrastructure complexity and streamline access to multiple payment rails across regions without requiring significant changes to SumUp's underlying systems or lengthy onboarding processes.
Consolidating payment infrastructure across regions
According to the official press release, the expanded scope allows SumUp to process SEPA Instant payments, meaning merchants can receive and send funds in near real-time in line with EU payment scheme requirements. SEPA Instant has been a focus of regulatory attention across the EU, with the European Commission's instant payments regulation requiring payment service providers to offer instant euro transfers at no additional cost to standard credit transfers. Access to the scheme at scale is therefore a meaningful operational and compliance consideration for fintechs operating across multiple European markets.
By routing both UK and European payment schemes through Form3's platform, SumUp aims to support continued merchant growth without proportional increases in operational overhead. Form3's infrastructure is designed for continuous, high-volume payment processing in regulated environments, and the platform is structured to accommodate the addition of new payment rails as SumUp expands into further markets.
A company official from Form3 noted that operating across multiple markets requires payments infrastructure that is reliable and straightforward to manage, and that using a single platform across regions can reduce cost and complexity while supporting growth. In addition, officials from SumUp added that the integration supports the company's broader goal of building a complete financial toolkit for small businesses, with SEPA Instant access enabling merchants to move money at the speed their operations require.
The partnership reflects a broader trend among fintechs seeking to consolidate payment connectivity through fewer providers as they scale internationally. Managing multiple direct connections to national payment schemes carries significant technical and compliance overhead. A platform-based approach allows companies like SumUp to maintain regulatory compliance and consistent service levels as payment volumes increase, without rebuilding core infrastructure for each new market.
