About this project

The SEPA Instant Payment Project is a compliance-driven initiative aimed at enabling SEPA Instant Payments for clients of ProCredit Bank Germany, allowing them to receive incoming instant payments within Europe in less than 10 seconds. The project was executed in two phases:

• Phase 1: Incoming SEPA Instant Payments – allows bank clients to receive instant payments from other participating banks.
• Phase 2: Outgoing SEPA Instant Payments – enables customers to initiate instant payments through the bank’s E-Banking application and EBICS channel.

Challenges

• Designing Digital Channels based on microservices capable of processing SEPA Instant Payments end-to-end in under 10 seconds.
• Implementing cloud-based architecture fully integrated with the bank’s Core Banking System and all related services for payment processing.
• Performing integration testing involving partner banks to validate response times and message formatting.
• Coordinating multiple teams and vendors to establish a stable and secure connection between ProCredit Bank and the instant payment processor.

Our approach

In close collaboration with ProCredit Bank’s team, we adopted an agile methodology to ensure flexibility, transparency, and continuous improvement throughout the project lifecycle. The process was structured around sprint planning sessions, where development epics were carefully prioritized to align with both technical requirements and business objectives. Coordination was maintained by the project management teams, ensuring consistent communication and momentum across all teams involved.

The project was broken down into strategic milestones, each contributing to the successful rollout of incoming SEPA Instant Payments:

• Designing scalable architecture for both incoming and outgoing SEPA Instant Payments.
• Developing Digital Channels based on microservices to receive and process incoming instant payments.

Solution provided

• Product/Service: SEPA Instant Payments
• Key Features Implemented:
  • Incoming SEPA Instant Payments
  • Incoming Recall Request
  • Reports that enable the bank to check:
    • Rejected Payments
    • Duplicate Messages
    • Inbound Messages
    • All messages linked to an Incoming flow

Results

• Incoming SEPA Instant Payments are live as of December 2024.
• Next step: Implementing Phase 2 – Outgoing SEPA Instant Payments.