Euro-denominated SEPA credit transfers

Transferring money is inexpensive and efficient in the SEPA

Finland belongs to the Single Euro Payments Area, SEPA. Euro-denominated cross-border payments within the SEPA are no different from domestic payments.

You can make payments from your company's euro or foreign currency account into an OP account and to another financial institution in Finland or abroad. Payment is flexible and inexpensive – you can make payment orders from your company's account on a 24/7 basis. The payment costs the same within the SEPA.

If your payment is denominated in a non-euro currency, read more about outgoing international payments.

A payment received as a SEPA instant credit transfer can be identified by the text "SEPA instant credit transfer" in the electronic bank statement’s and transaction statement query’s message or description field. A payment received as a normal SEPA credit transfer can be identified by the text “SEPA credit transfer” in the corresponding field. A SEPA instant credit transfer arriving with a reference is shown on the transaction list, in the same manner as a bank transfer with a reference received as a SEPA credit transfer.

In account reporting, a payment sent as a SEPA instant credit transfer is not distinguished from payments sent as SEPA credit transfers.

No changes will be made to bank statement and reference data generation practices and times in this regard. The processing times for payloads and reports in the Web Services channel for businesses are the same as for current SEPA credit transfers: every weekday from 7.00 to 18.00. The processing cycle for payloads will be thirty minutes, as now. However, after successful processing of a SEPA instant credit transfer, payments will be in the payees’ accounts within seconds. Individual urgent payments sent under the real-time urgent payment data type will be processed immediately at all hours, every day of the year.

The cost of incoming and outgoing SEPA instant credit transfers is the same as that of normal SEPA credit transfers with a reference or message.

Payment volumes are expected to shift from normal SEPA credit transfers towards SEPA instant credit transfers with increasing speed. The inter-bank POPS express transfer in Finland is likely to be replaced by SEPA instant credit transfer, when Finnish banks have introduced SEPA instant credit transfers via their own channels.

Recurring payments e.g. salaries and pensions
  • You can make your company's recurring payments, such as salaries and pensions, as euro-denominated SEPA credit transfers via the Web Services channel or as file transfer via a browser channel.
  • You can send payment data to the bank on a 24/7 basis, and the payments will be processed until 6 pm on business days.
  • Recurring payments will be debited to your company's account as one bulk entry.
  • Learn more about Web Services:
Our outgoing international payments enable your company to make payments outside the SEPA or in a non-euro currency.

Keep up to date on your company's finances with the bank statement, reference transaction list and account queries.

If you generate your payment data from a financial management system, we recommend you visit the following page where we have assembled all the necessary documents and instructions.

Choose the best alternative for your company's banking and insurance business and monitoring. The choice of the most suitable channel depends on the systems your company uses, the nature of its operations as well as its invoicing volumes and the like.

Check the obligatory features of incoming payment data, our processing times and upcoming changes.