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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

EBA-CLEARING-STEP2

EBA CLEARING STEP2 pan-European ACH SEPA SCT + SDD retail batch.

Definition

EBA CLEARING STEP2 characteristics: (1) Operator: EBA CLEARING (European Banking Association, Paris-based, formed 1998 by European banks consortium ~50+ owner banks). (2) Services: (a) STEP2 SCT (SEPA Credit Transfer service for SCT compliant credit transfers, launched 2008), (b) STEP2 SDD (SEPA Direct Debit service for SDD Core + SDD B2B compliant direct debits, launched 2009), (c) STEP2-T (transition service for non-SEPA legacy national formats, sunsetted ~2018). (3) Settlement: multilateral net settlement via TARGET2/T2 RTGS at ECB (settlement cycles 4 daily 08:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00 CET typically). (4) ISO 20022 native: pacs.008 + pacs.003 + pacs.002 messages (SCT + SDD respectively + status reports). (5) Reachability: ~12000+ Indirect Participants via Direct Participants ~120, reaches ~99% Eurozone bank accounts + EEA. (6) Alternative ACH: SIX BBS Swiss + La Caixa Iberpay (Spain) + Equens (multi-country, owned WorldLine) + RPS Bundesbank (Germany) + multiple national CSMs ACHs interoperate via interoperability bilateral arrangements + Single Euro Payments Area SEPA scheme rulebook. (7) Volume: STEP2 processed ~10 billion transactions 2023 annual (~30% pan-European SEPA volume, balance via national CSMs). (8) RT1 (Real-Time 1): EBA CLEARING separate launched 2017 for SCT Inst instant payments scheme, ~10000+ PSPs reachable 2024, complementary TIPS (ECB-operated alternative).

Origin

EBA CLEARING founded 1998 ; STEP2 launched November 2003 ; STEP2 SCT launched January 2008 ; STEP2 SDD launched November 2009 ; RT1 launched November 2017.

Example in context

French e-commerce merchant collects subscriptions via SEPA Direct Debit: merchant submits SDD Core batch file (~50000 SDD transactions, customers Eurozone) via STEP2 SDD service ; EBA CLEARING processes batch ; debits customer accounts across Eurozone Day +2 (D + 2 SDD Core lifecycle), credits merchant account Day +2 ; settlement multilateral nets via TARGET2 ECB.

Last updated: May 16, 2026