Sending cross-border payments from the Eurozone: the stack

By Polynopsis team · Last updated 28 October 2026

Collecting and sending from the euro area takes a payment institution or e-money institution licence from one national competent authority under PSD2 and EMD2, passported across the EEA, with customer funds safeguarded by segregation in a credit institution account or secure low-risk assets from the end of the business day after receipt, or by insurance or a guarantee; national supervisors add their own requirements, such as Ireland's specific safeguarding audit. The typical stack is a bank such as Banking Circle or ClearBank Europe for safeguarding and settlement accounts, SEPA Instant for 24/7 euro collections and payouts, collections through Adyen, Mollie, Stripe or GoCardless, and MiCA-authorised ramps such as Circle France for USDC and EURC.

Currency	EUR
Collection and funding rails	SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement), T2 (RTGS and CLM), SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), CENTROlink
Holiday calendar	Euro area (TARGET2/T2 and SEPA) bank holidays 2026 and 2027

The Eurozone market

Personal remittances paid by euro area countries totalled US$143.6 billion in 2025, up from US$131.0 billion in 2024; the World Bank aggregate sums member countries and includes transfers between them (data last updated 8 October 2026). source
In the second half of 2025 there were 17.8 billion credit transfers within the euro area worth 108.9 trillion euros, 7.1% more by number than a year earlier; instant credit transfers were 25% of the number and 8% of the value of credit transfers processed by euro area retail payment systems. source
TIPS settled 998.3 million euro instant payments worth 792.8 billion euros in 2025, up 119.5% by number and 179.7% by value on 2024 as the Instant Payments Regulation took effect; T2 settled an average of 431,067 euro payments a day worth 1,932.8 billion euros. source
As of 9 October 2026, 2,711 euro area payment service providers had joined the SCT Inst scheme against 2,916 in SEPA Credit Transfer, and 2,843 against 3,501 across all SEPA countries. source

Licensing: who can send money from the Eurozone

PSD2 sets initial capital for payment institutions at 20,000 euros for money remittance only, 50,000 euros for payment initiation and 125,000 euros for the services in points 1 to 5 of Annex I (Article 7). source
An e-money institution must hold initial capital of at least 350,000 euros at authorisation (EMD2, Article 4). source
A payment institution that wants to provide services in another Member State for the first time notifies its home competent authority of the Member States, the services and any agents or branches it will use (PSD2, Article 28); agents are entered in the home register before they start (Article 19). source
The EBA runs a central register of payment and e-money institutions, agents and EEA branches, updated by national competent authorities at least once a day; authorisation stays with the national authorities and the EBA register has no legal significance. source
Under the Instant Payments Regulation, euro area payment service providers had to receive instant credit transfers by 9 January 2025 and send them by 9 October 2025, with verification of payee by 9 October 2025; payment institutions and e-money institutions in the euro area must offer sending and receiving by 9 April 2027, and the payee's provider must make funds available within 10 seconds. source
PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation reached provisional agreement on 27 November 2025, and COREPER confirmed the agreement on 22 April 2026; until the acts are adopted and published, PSD2 applies. source
The Council's first reading position on PSD3 (21 October 2026) repeals PSD2 and EMD2 21 months after entry into force, treats e-money issuers as payment institutions, and lets existing payment and e-money institutions continue until 27 months after entry into force. source
The MiCA transitional period expired across the EU on 1 July 2026; any entity providing crypto-asset services to EU clients without a MiCA licence is in breach of EU law, and entities outside the EU are not permitted to provide MiCA services to EU investors, including business to business, outside reverse solicitation. source
Since April 2025 non-bank payment service providers have been eligible to hold accounts in T2 and TIPS, but at the end of 2025 none was yet connected to these TARGET services in production. source
In Ireland, a payment or e-money institution that wants to join a payment system designated under the Settlement Finality Regulations must ask the Central Bank of Ireland to assess its compliance with Regulation 43A three months before applying to the system operator. source

This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal or regulatory advice. Check the primary source and take advice on how the rules apply to your firm.

Holding customer funds

PSD2 Article 10 requires payment institutions providing services 1 to 6 of Annex I to safeguard user funds either by never commingling them and, if not delivered by the end of the business day after receipt, depositing them in a separate account at a credit institution or investing them in secure, liquid low-risk assets defined by the home authority, insulated from other creditors; or by an insurance policy or comparable guarantee. source
E-money institutions must safeguard funds received in exchange for e-money issued under the same methods (EMD2, Article 7). source
The Central Bank of Ireland's Dear CEO letter of 20 January 2023 required payment and e-money firms to obtain a specific audit of their compliance with the safeguarding requirements by 31 July 2023; Chartered Accountants Ireland issued Technical Release 01/2023 to guide those audits. source
The Bank of Lithuania lists the permitted secure, liquid low-risk assets as cash and cash equivalents, exchange-traded government, central bank or corporate bonds rated at least BBB, deposits of up to one year and funds investing in those assets; the alternative is an insurance policy or guarantee from a Lithuanian or other EU insurer or credit institution. source
The Bank of Lithuania states that customer funds cannot be held in central bank-operated payment systems such as CENTROlink for safeguarding purposes, so participating institutions must use another safeguarding method. source
The Council's PSD3 text lets payment institutions safeguard funds in a separate account at a credit institution or, at that central bank's discretion, at a central bank, and requires them to endeavour not to safeguard all users' funds with one credit institution. source

Collection and funding rails

Rail	Operator	What matters	Source
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst)	European Payments Council (scheme)	Available 24 hours a day on all calendar days; the 2025 rulebook in effect since 5 October 2025 gives a scheme maximum of nine seconds to make funds available and sets no scheme-level maximum amount, so each provider sets its own limits.	source
TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement)	Eurosystem	Final settlement of instant payments in central bank money in euro, Swedish krona and Danish krone, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; participation rules are the same as for T2.	source
T2 (RTGS and CLM)	Eurosystem	Open Monday to Friday; closed on weekends and for euro settlement on 1 January, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1 May, 25 December and 26 December.	source
SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT)	European Payments Council (scheme); cleared by CSMs	Under PSD2 the payer's provider must credit the payee's provider by the end of the business day after the time of receipt, so non-instant euro transfers settle on business days only.	source
CENTROlink	Bank of Lithuania	Central bank-operated payment system giving EEA-licensed banks, e-money institutions and payment institutions direct access to the main SEPA schemes through one integration, with verification of payee available to all participants.	source

The send-side stack, layer by layer

A starting shortlist for each layer, described from each provider's own documentation. Confirm terms, coverage and licences with each provider.

Sponsor banks and safeguarding accounts

Provider	What it does	Source
Banking Circle	Luxembourg-registered bank (CSSF B00000408) providing physical and virtual multi-jurisdictional accounts, with safeguarded, segregated client money accounts for regulated clients.	source
ClearBank Europe	ClearBank Europe N.V., authorised by the ECB and supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank, offers safeguarding and multi-currency accounts with connections to SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant and T2.	source
Modulr	Modulr Finance B.V. is licensed by De Nederlandsche Bank as an e-money institution (R182870) and provides multi-currency accounts, pay-outs and collections.	source

Collections and pay-ins

Provider	What it does	Source
Adyen	Adyen N.V. is a Dutch bank (DNB relation number F0001) licensed since 25 April 2017; its DNB register entry covers deposits, lending, payment services under PSD2, issuing e-money and foreign exchange.	source
Mollie	Payment module for methods including iDEAL and cards, settling funds to the merchant's bank account over SEPA, typically within 1 to 3 business days; Mollie B.V. is a DNB-authorised e-money institution (F0038).	source
Stripe	Stripe Technology Europe, Limited is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as an e-money institution (C187865) to issue e-money, execute payment transactions and acquire payments, passported to all EEA countries.	source
GoCardless	Recurring bank debit collection across 30+ countries and 8 bank debit schemes, with collection in currencies including EUR at the mid-market exchange rate.	source

Stablecoin ramps

Provider	What it does	Source
Circle France (Circle Mint)	ACPR-authorised e-money institution (17788) with an AMF CASP licence from 24 April 2026 that issues USDC and EURC as e-money tokens; Circle Mint accounts tokenise euro or USD 1:1 and redeem at par in the EEA with no burn fee, within approximately 2 business days on the basic tier.	source
Kraken	Holds an e-money licence (Payward Ireland Limited) and two MiCA CASP authorisations (Payward Europe Solutions Limited and Payward Global Solutions Limited) from the Central Bank of Ireland, passported across 30 EEA countries.	source
Coinbase	Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. is authorised by the CSSF as a crypto-asset service provider (N00000004), and Coinbase Ireland Limited is a Central Bank of Ireland e-money institution (C188493).	source
Bitstamp	Bitstamp Europe S.A. is authorised by the CSSF in Luxembourg as a payment institution (Z00000012) and crypto-asset service provider (N00000003).	source

FX and liquidity

Provider	What it does	Source
Currencycloud	Collect, convert and pay in 36+ currencies across 180+ countries with virtual named accounts; licensed in the Netherlands as well as the UK and other markets.	source
Ebury	Business accounts with local collection accounts, payments in 140+ currencies to 160+ countries, spot FX, forwards and options, across 30+ regulated markets.	source

KYC and KYB providers

Provider	What it does	Source
BRIS (European e-Justice Portal)	Since June 2017 the business registers of all EU countries have been interconnected and searchable from one portal.	source
IDnow	Document, biometric, eID scheme and EUDI wallet identity verification with AML screening and IBAN verification, built for AMLR, BaFin, eIDAS 2.0 and PSD3 requirements.	source
Veriff	Identity verification supporting documents from 230+ countries and territories with 12.5K+ specimens, plus continuous AML and sanctions monitoring.	source

Bank data and open banking

Provider	What it does	Source
Enable Banking	One PSD2 API for account information and payment initiation across 2,700+ banks in 30 European countries, covering business and personal accounts; registered AISP regulated by the Finnish FIN-FSA.	source
Tink	Open banking platform (a Visa solution) that aggregates PSD2 and non-PSD2 data from European banks and lets clients operate under Tink's PSD2 licence.	source
Yapily	Open banking data from over 2,000 banks in 19 countries; regulated services in the EU are provided by Yapily Connect UAB, regulated by the Bank of Lithuania (LB002045).	source

When money can leave the Eurozone

At the Bundesbank, T2 RTGS accepts customer payments from 02:30 to 17:00 and bank-to-bank payments from 02:30 to 18:00 on business days, so non-instant euro funding must be sent within those windows. source
T2 has a non-optional maintenance window every week from 02:30 Saturday to 02:30 Monday, extended over TARGET closing days (for example from Good Friday to the Tuesday after Easter); when the optional weekday window (03:00 to 05:00) is activated, settlement of liquidity transfers in TIPS is affected while TIPS keeps processing instant payments. source
In October 2025, after the Instant Payments Regulation took full effect, participants sent on average 15.1 billion euros from T2 to TIPS at the start of the T2 business day (19:30 CET the evening before) and moved liquidity back to T2 shortly before the 18:00 CET end of day. source
The Eurosystem's May 2026 roadmap introduces, as a short-term measure, a short settlement window for liquidity transfers in T2 on most weekends and TARGET holidays, alongside automatic remuneration of excess TIPS balances and rule-based liquidity transfers to and from TIPS. source
Under the standing T2 closing-day rule, upcoming euro settlement holidays are 25 December 2026, 1 January 2027, 26 March 2027 (Good Friday) and 29 March 2027 (Easter Monday); 1 May, 25 December and 26 December 2027 fall on weekends. source
ECB euro reference rates are usually published around 16:00 CET every working day except TARGET closing days, based on a concertation among central banks around 14:10 CET; they are for information only and the ECB strongly discourages using them for transactions. source

Corridors from here

Frequently asked questions

Does one licence cover the whole euro area?

Yes. A payment or e-money institution authorised in one Member State can passport its services across the EEA by notifying its home authority of the countries, services and any agents or branches (PSD2 Article 28). The EBA's central register shows where each institution is passported.

Are safeguarding rules the same in every euro country?

The core rule is the same: segregate funds and, by the end of the business day after receipt, hold them in a separate credit institution account or secure low-risk assets, or use insurance or a guarantee. National supervisors add detail; Ireland required a specific safeguarding audit by 31 July 2023, and Lithuania lists the eligible assets and does not accept CENTROlink settlement accounts for safeguarding.

When must payment and e-money institutions offer SEPA Instant?

Euro area payment and e-money institutions must offer sending and receiving instant euro credit transfers by 9 April 2027. Euro area banks had to receive them from 9 January 2025 and send them, with verification of payee, from 9 October 2025.

Can a payment institution access TARGET directly?

Since April 2025 non-bank payment service providers have been eligible to hold T2 and TIPS accounts, although none was connected in production at the end of 2025. Lithuania's CENTROlink also gives EEA-licensed payment and e-money institutions direct access to SEPA schemes.

Can I use stablecoins for euro flows?

Yes, through MiCA-authorised providers. The transitional period ended on 1 July 2026, so crypto-asset services to EU clients now need a MiCA licence. Circle France issues USDC and EURC as e-money tokens and redeems them at par in the EEA.

When will PSD3 apply?

Not yet. Provisional agreement came on 27 November 2025 and the Council published its first reading position in October 2026; under that text Member States have 21 months from entry into force to apply PSD3, and existing institutions can continue until 27 months after entry into force.

Sources

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