The Spanish banking community has become the first EU market to facilitate instant cross-currency payments under the European Payment Council’s OCT Inst (One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer) scheme.
Following pilot trials conducted in June 2023 with CaixaBank, Santander, BBVA, Swift, Iberpay, and several international banks, the entire Spanish banking community has been fully onboarded.
OCT Inst is a cross-currency payment scheme designed to support incoming and outgoing international instant account-to-account credit transfers. It is the first EPC scheme that exclusively addresses the Euro Leg of international instant credit transfers entering or leaving the geographical scope of SEPA. This initiative aims to accelerate the execution of international payments, enhance cost transparency, and improve payment status traceability.
The scheme officially went live in November 2023; however, the postponement of ISO20022 migration for all SEPA schemes necessitated that Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms (CSMs) adjust their operational timelines.
In May, when Santander became the first Spanish bank to adopt the scheme, Juan Luis Encinas, CEO of Iberpay, stated, “Providing the infrastructure and services necessary for processing international cross-currency instant transfers is a significant step forward for Iberpay, enabling our banks to offer new innovative services, improve the customer experience, and remain highly competitive in the global payments industry.”