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Payments/FR/sct-inst

SCT Inst

SCT Inst, the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, is what French banks call the virement instantané: a euro transfer that reaches the payee's account in under 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Since 9 October 2025 every French bank that offers ordinary transfers must also let you send instant ones, at the same price, which online is usually free. You need the payee's IBAN, your bank checks the name against it first, and once it's sent you can't cancel it. In 2025, one French transfer in six was instant.
Country France (FR)
What it is A SEPA credit transfer executed in seconds, on the European Payments Council's SCT Inst scheme rules [1]
Who offers it Every bank or payment institution that offers ordinary SEPA transfers: receiving since 9 Jan 2025, sending since 9 Oct 2025 [1]
Processed by STET, the clearing house of the French and Belgian banks, linked to the Eurosystem's TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement) and EBA Clearing's RT1 [13]
Since Scheme rules first approved on 24 Nov 2016 [8]; STET's French instant service since 2017 or 2018, depending on the STET page [12][13]
Cost By law no more than an ordinary transfer; usually free online for individuals [1]
Typical limit Set by your bank: €5,000 a day at La Banque Postale, €30,000 a day at BoursoBank [18][14]
Reaches Euro accounts across the SEPA area at banks that can process it [16]
Code on paper? No code of its own. An EPC QR code on an invoice only fills in a transfer form

This page covers the instant transfer itself. Paying people by phone number is on Wero, which runs on SCT Inst, and QR codes on invoices are on EPC QR.

How SCT Inst came to France

The European Payments Council's board approved the first SCT Inst rulebook on 24 November 2016 [8], and the Banque de France describes the instant transfer as a category "développée depuis 2017" [1]. STET, which clears the French and Belgian banks' payments, gives two start dates for its own service. Its homepage says it has delivered instant payments "since 2017" [12], and its instant-payments page says it has been the instant payment provider for France and Belgium "since 2018" [13].

Until 2025, banks didn't have to offer it. The EU's Instant Payments Regulation of 13 March 2024 changed that [6][1]:

Date What changed for French bank customers
9 Jan 2025 Every bank must let you receive instant transfers, and may charge no more for them than for ordinary transfers
5 Oct 2025 The EPC's 2025 rulebook takes effect, aligned on the regulation [7]
9 Oct 2025 Every bank that offers ordinary transfers must let you send instant ones, and must check the payee's name against the IBAN before any SEPA transfer

How much it's used. The Banque de France's payment-security observatory (OSMP) counts instant transfers in its annual report [11]:

Year Instant transfers (millions) Value (€ billion)
2019 14 7
2020 45 27
2021 107 50
2022 198 119
2023 408 177
2024 598 231
2025 1,066 505

In 2025 instant transfers grew 78 % in number and 118 % in value, and made up 17 % of all transfers, against 10 % in 2024. The average instant transfer was €473 [11]. STET reports 1.1 billion instant payments processed in 2025 across the French and Belgian communities it serves [12].

How to use it

  1. Open your banking app or website and start a transfer to a saved payee, or add a new payee with their IBAN. At Société Générale, adding a payee needs the Pass Sécurité [15]; La Banque Postale requires strong authentication (a secure phone number or Certicode Plus) to send an instant transfer [19].
  2. Choose "instantané". At Crédit Mutuel the app tells you whether the payee can receive instant transfers, and you tick "Instantané" [21]. At Société Générale you pick classic, instant, deferred or standing transfer [15].
  3. Read the name check. Your bank compares the name you typed with the name held for that IBAN at the payee's bank and shows the result before you confirm. Société Générale shows a green symbol for a full match and orange for a partial one; the check doesn't block the transfer whatever the result [15]. The check is free and covers instant transfers too [2].
  4. Confirm. The money is on the payee's account within seconds, and your bank must tell you whether it arrived [6]. If the payee's bank doesn't confirm within 10 seconds, your bank must put your account back as if nothing happened [6].
  5. Receive. Give your IBAN. Money sent to you instantly is usable at once, weekends included: BoursoBank shows Saturday and Sunday instant transfers in your account straight away [14].

Things to know:

  • You can't cancel it. Executed instant transfers are irrevocable [1]; Société Générale says the transfer "ne peut être ni modifiée, ni supprimée" once validated [15].
  • No hours and no cut-off. It runs 24/7 [1]. An ordinary transfer takes up to one business day, two if ordered on paper [4]; Crédit Mutuel's example is a classic transfer made on a Saturday that is not credited before Tuesday [21].
  • Not from savings accounts. Instant transfers to or from a savings account (livret) aren't available, because the regulation doesn't cover savings accounts [2].
  • At a branch. If your bank takes ordinary SEPA transfers at the counter, it must take instant ones there too, though branch transfers usually cost money [2].

Limits and fees

The rules. Your bank can't charge more for an instant transfer than for an ordinary one of the same kind [6]. That doesn't make it free: most banks charge individuals nothing for online transfers, but not all [2]. Each bank sets its own maximum, and you must be able to change it, per day or per transfer, at any time [1][6]. You can also ask your bank to switch instant transfers off [2].

Bank Limit Price online
BoursoBank €30,000 a day across all your accounts; €1,500 if the payee was added recently [14] Free to send and receive [14]
La Banque Postale €5,000 a day for standard and instant transfers to other people's accounts, as of 30 Sep 2025 [18] Free, in the 2026 price list [20]
Société Générale One daily limit shared by ordinary, instant and international transfers; raise or lower it for a while yourself in the app [17] Free from the Espace Client or L'Appli SG; receiving is free, in the price list from 1 Oct 2026 [22]
Crédit Mutuel Capped, but its page gives no figure; change it under "Virements" > "Plafonds de virements" [21] —

For more than BoursoBank's €30,000, you ask customer service before noon for a same-day transfer, which is charged [14]. Above La Banque Postale's limits, you go through your adviser [18].

Old figures on bank sites. Crédit Mutuel still says a European rule caps instant transfers at €100,000 [21], and a Crédit Agricole guide of September 2025 speaks of a 15,000 € legal limit, of fees "généralement" charged, and of 20 seconds at most [9]. The EPC's 2025 rulebook removed the scheme's default maximum amount, following the regulation [8], which also sets the 10-second limit and the price rule [6]. What binds you is your own bank's limit.

Limits change; check your bank's current terms.

Paying shops and businesses

You can pay a business by instant transfer whenever you have its IBAN: the Banque de France gives paying for a purchase or a service as an example [1]. In shops and online the instant rail reaches you through Wero: the Banque de France says Wero payments "sont concrètement des virements SEPA instantanés" [3]. In September 2026 Orange's Sosh became the first French merchant to take subscription bills by Wero, and EPI counted nearly 40 million Wero users in France [10].

Paying across borders

An instant transfer reaches a euro account anywhere in the SEPA area, as long as the payee's bank can process it [16]. STET reaches every EU counterpart through TIPS or RT1 [13]. Banks in the euro area have had to receive instant transfers since January 2025. Banks in EU countries outside the euro must receive them by 9 January 2027 and send them by 9 July 2027 [6]. For a payment to the UK or Switzerland, the time to dispute it is 70 days, not 13 months [2]. Everything stays in euro; any currency conversion is done by your bank or the payee's, outside the scheme [8].

Is there an SCT Inst QR code in France?

No. SCT Inst has no code of its own in France: you send it to an IBAN.

  • On an invoice, an EPC QR code carries the payee's name, IBAN, amount and reference, and your app fills in a transfer for you to confirm. Its identification code is "SCT", and the EPC's guideline leaves offering the feature optional for banks [24]. The code doesn't choose instant or ordinary: you pick that in your app. We found no French bank or authority that promotes it (see EPC QR in France).
  • At a shop terminal or checkout, the EPC points to a separate document, EPC024-22, for QR codes that start an instant transfer at the point of sale [24]. That EPC work is the basis of the EN 18184 standard. We found no French deployment of it as of 20 October 2026.
  • Wero's QR codes, between people and at online checkouts, end in an SCT Inst payment, but EPI hasn't published their format (Wero standard).

On a French bill, the QR code is usually for paying a tax or public bill at a tobacconist, or a 2D-Doc that proves the document is genuine, not a transfer code (FR report).

Underneath, banks exchange SCT Inst payments as ISO 20022 XML messages, the FI-to-FI customer credit transfer pacs.008.001.08, in the 2019 version of the standard [23]. The scheme moved to that version on 17 March 2024 [8]. From 15 November 2026, EPC payment messages can no longer carry an unstructured address [23].

Safety: the fake bank adviser

Fraud on instant transfers in France nearly doubled in 2025, to €205.9 million (up 92 %, from €107.4 million), and accounted for €98 million of the year's €130 million rise in transfer fraud. Relative to volume it fell, from 0.046 % of value in 2024 to 0.041 %, below the card's 0.049 % [11]. The OSMP traces the growth to online banking, where fraudsters steal access by phishing or manipulate the victim into approving an operation themselves [11]. The typical script is a caller posing as your bank adviser or as someone from its fraud department, who rushes you into a transfer [11].

The OSMP's rules for any transfer, "d'autant plus s'il s'agit d'un virement instantané" [11]:

  • Send only when you're sure who the payee is and what their IBAN is, and use your bank's name check.
  • If anything doesn't match, call the payee back on a number you already know, especially if they've just told you about new bank details.
  • Never transfer under pressure, least of all for someone who says they are your adviser or from the fraud department. Your bank will never ask you for your bank details; hang up and call your bank yourself [5].

If it happened. If a transfer you didn't authorise left your account, tell your bank as soon as possible, and within 13 months. It must refund you unless it proves you were grossly negligent or acted fraudulently, and you need no special insurance [2][5]. If you sent it yourself to a fraudster, ask your bank at once for a recall ("demande de retour de fonds") and file a complaint, but recovering the money isn't guaranteed [5]. The Banque de France pages we read describe no automatic refund for a transfer you approved yourself. Since May 2026, a national file of accounts reported for fraud risk has let banks share information to spot risky transfers [11].

SCT Inst and the alternatives in France

Way to pay Best for Notes
Instant transfer (SCT Inst) Rent, a deposit, paying a tradesperson or a friend with an IBAN, at any hour Arrives in under 10 seconds; same price as a standard transfer; irrevocable [1]
Ordinary SEPA transfer Anything that isn't urgent, savings accounts, amounts above your instant limit Up to one business day [4]
Wero Paying friends by phone number, some online shops and bills An instant transfer without the IBAN [3]
Card Shops and online 62.7 % of all cashless payments in 2025 (FR report)
Direct debit (prélèvement) Regular bills 14.1 % of cashless payments in 2025 (FR report)
EPC QR code An invoice that carries one Fills in the transfer; you choose instant or ordinary

Sources

  1. Banque de France, "Le virement SEPA instantané" (consumer guide), read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/a-votre-service/particuliers/mieux-connaitre-moyens-paiement/le-virement-sepa-instantane
  2. Banque de France, "Foire aux questions - Le virement SEPA instantané", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/foire-aux-questions-le-virement-sepa-instantane
  3. Banque de France, "Wero" (consumer guide), read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/a-votre-service/particuliers/mieux-connaitre-moyens-paiement/wero
  4. Banque de France, "Qu'est-ce qu'un virement SEPA ? Comment fonctionne-t-il ?", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/a-votre-service/particuliers/mieux-connaitre-moyens-paiement/virement-sepa
  5. Banque de France, "Foire aux questions - Les incidents et litiges relatifs aux virements SEPA", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/foire-aux-questions-les-incidents-et-litiges-relatifs-aux-virements-sepa
  6. European Parliament and Council, "Regulation (EU) 2024/886 of 13 March 2024 amending Regulations (EU) No 260/2012 and (EU) 2021/1230 and Directives 98/26/EC and (EU) 2015/2366 as regards instant credit transfers in euro", 13 Mar 2024. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32024R0886
  7. European Payments Council, "2025 SEPA Instant Credit Transfer rulebook version 1.0", 28 Nov 2024. https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/node/26571
  8. European Payments Council, "SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook 2025 Version 1.0" (EPC004-16), 28 Nov 2024. https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/sites/default/files/kb/file/2024-11/EPC004-16 2025 SCT Instant Rulebook v1.0.pdf
  9. Crédit Agricole, "Comment faire un paiement instantané ?", 2 Sep 2025. https://www.credit-agricole.fr/particulier/conseils/magazine/tout-un-mag/paiement-instantane-comment-faire.html
  10. EPI, "A first for France: Orange launches subscription bill payment via Wero for its Sosh customers", 2 Sep 2026. https://epicompany.eu/media-insights/orange-launches-subscription-bill-payment-via-wero
  11. Observatoire de la sécurité des moyens de paiement (Banque de France), "Rapport annuel de l'Observatoire de la sécurité des moyens de paiement 2025", 28 Aug 2026 (PDF creation date; presented 7 Sep 2026). https://www.banque-france.fr/system/files/2026-09/Rapport_2025_de_l_OSMP.pdf
  12. STET, "STET" (homepage, with its key figures for 2025), read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.stet.eu/en/
  13. STET, "Instant Payments", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.stet.eu/en/solutions/our-services/instant-payments.html
  14. BoursoBank, "Comment effectuer un virement instantané ?" (help page), read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.boursobank.com/aide-en-ligne/banque/virement/virement-instantane/question/comment-mettre-en-place-un-virement-instantane-47477150
  15. Société Générale, "Effectuez en ligne vos virements SEPA", read 20 Oct 2026. https://particuliers.sg.fr/services-en-ligne/passer-faire-virement-sepa-permanent-ou-occasionnel
  16. Société Générale, "Gérez vos virements et prélèvements facilement depuis l'appli SG", read 20 Oct 2026. https://particuliers.sg.fr/services-en-ligne/virement-et-prelevements
  17. Société Générale, "Modifiez temporairement votre plafond de virement quotidien", read 20 Oct 2026. https://particuliers.sg.fr/services-en-ligne/modifier-plafond-quotidien-de-virement
  18. La Banque Postale, "Quel est le plafond des virements ?" (help centre), read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.labanquepostale.fr/particulier/faq-centre-aide/comptes-et-cartes/moyens-de-paiement.question.html/quel-est-le-plafond-des-virements.html
  19. La Banque Postale, "Virement SEPA", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.labanquepostale.fr/particulier/comptes-et-cartes/moyens-de-paiement/virement-sepa.html
  20. La Banque Postale, "Tarifs Particuliers au 1er janvier 2026" (copy archived by MoneyVox), 21 Oct 2025 (PDF creation date). https://www.moneyvox.fr/tarif-bancaire/la-banque-postale/pdf/tarifs-2026-b.pdf
  21. Crédit Mutuel, "Comment faire un virement en ligne au Crédit Mutuel", read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.creditmutuel.fr/fr/particuliers/comptes/virement-bancaire.html
  22. Société Générale, "Tarifs Particuliers : conditions et tarifs appliqués aux opérations bancaires au 1er octobre 2026", 6 Aug 2026 (PDF creation date). https://static.sg.fr/bigfiles/pri/sg-bt-10-26.pdf
  23. European Payments Council, "SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme Inter-PSP Implementation Guidelines" (EPC122-16, 2025 version 1.0, with the 15 November 2026 address notice), 6 Oct 2025. https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/sites/default/files/kb/file/2025-10/EPC122-16 SCT Inst Inter-PSP IG 2025 V1.0.pdf
  24. European Payments Council, "Quick Response Code: Guidelines to Enable the Data Capture for the Initiation of a SEPA Credit Transfer" (EPC069-12 v3.1), 19 Mar 2024. https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/sites/default/files/kb/file/2024-03/EPC069-12 v3.1 Quick Response Code - Guidelines to Enable the Data Capture for the Initiation of an SCT.pdf

Researched 20 October 2026. Limits and bank offerings change; the banks' own pages are authoritative.

source · content/payments/FR/sct-inst/index.md