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Modulr glossary

SEPA Instant

SEPA Instant enables near real-time euro payments between accounts within the SEPA zone. This provides immediate payment confirmation and settlement. Modulr offers access to both SEPA Instant and SEPA Credit Transfer. SEPA Instant is the 24/7 instant payment scheme within SEPA for Euro currency payments. Funds settle within 10 seconds and up to €100,000 can be sent in a single transaction. SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) is the existing payment scheme for the SEPA region for Euro currency payments. It has pan-European coverage and €1bn individual transaction limit. Payments complete same day or next day depending upon the time of the payment. SEPA Direct Debit (DD) is a Europe-wide Direct Debit system that allows businesses to collect Euro-denominated payments from accounts in the 36 SEPA countries and associated territories.

Applications

E-commerce:

Reduces fraud in online card payments by verifying the cardholder's identity

Banking and fintech:

Helps issuers and payment providers comply with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements.

Advantages

  • Enhanced security: Reduces unauthorised transactions by verifying that the genuine account holder is authorising the payment
  • Fraud prevention: Helps reduce chargebacks related to fraud.

Challenges

  • User Experience: Additional authentication steps can cause friction and increase checkout abandonment
  • Implementation complexity: Requires integration with card schemes and issuer systems.

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