SEPA Instant R-Message flows

SEPA Instant – R-Message Flows

SEPA Instant payments have a slightly different R-Message flow when compared to SEPA classic payments or high value payments. This article will attempt to explain them on a very high level.

The following R-messages are in scope for a SEPA instant payment

1. Reject – Pacs.002 (RJCT)
2. Recall –  Camt.056
3. Returns – Pacs.004 (FOCR)

Reject – Pacs.002 (RJCT)

“A ‘Reject’ occurs when an SCT Inst Transaction is not accepted for normal execution under the Scheme.” These rejects are communicated via a pacs.002 message. Not to be confused with the late American rapper 2 Pac

Pacs.002’s essentially plays both ‘good cop’ and ‘bad cop’ roles ie. They are used to communicate both Accept and Reject.

This rejection message, labelled as RJCT, is sent in cases where the payment cannot be processed due to various reasons such as insufficient funds, technical errors, or compliance issues. Unlike SEPA classic payments, where rejections might take longer to process, SEPA Instant ensures that these messages are transmitted in real-time, allowing for immediate resolution and faster turnaround for subsequent actions.

From the perspective of the Originator PSP, rejects can be sent by the CSM or by the beneficiary bank, and from the perspective of the beneficiary, it will be sent by the CSM.

Rejected by CSM:

Originator PSPs send SEPA Instant pacs.008s to the CSM, and the CSM validates these messages. If any of the validations fail, then a pacs.002 (RJCT) is sent back to the Origination PSP, and the pacs.008 is not forwarded to the beneficiary PSP. Some reasons for validation failure are.

• Unable to route the payments
• Incorrect file format
• Lack of funds in the Origination PSP’s CSM account
• Payment is received by the CSM after timeout ie. Acceptance date time is more that 20 seconds (7 seconds from Oct 2025) from the current time
• Beneficiary PSP blocked from receiving payments

Rejected by Beneficiary PSP:

Originator PSPs send SEPA Instant pacs.008 to the CSM, and the CSM forwards the pacs.008 messages to the beneficiary PSP. The beneficiary PSP performs validations on these pacs.008s. If any of these validation fails, then the beneficiary PSP sends a pacs.002 (RJCT) is sent to CSM. Some reasons for validation failure are.

• Beneficiary account closed or incorrect
• Beneficiary account is not a payment account
• Payment failed sanctions check or the fraud check
• Beneficiary PSP receives payment after timeout ie. Acceptance date time is more that 20 seconds (7 seconds from Oct 2025) from the current time

The CSM forwards the pacs.002 (RJCT) to the Originator PSP

CSM Time out:

There is one more scenario where pacs.008 was sent to the beneficiary PSP, but there was no response from the beneficiary PSP within the maximum time allowed for SEPA instant payments defined by the scheme. In that case, the payment is timed out by the CSM and pacs.002 (RJCT) is sent to both the Originator PSP and the Beneficiary PSP.

Request for Recall –  Camt.056

The camt.056 message is used to recall a pacs.008. Request for Recalls are initiated by the customer or the Originator PSP. These messages travel in the SEPA instant rails.

Camt.056 messages are sent to the CSM, which then forwards them to the beneficiary PSP. These messages carry the reason code for the recalls, which tells the beneficiary PSP why the original payment is being recalled. Depending on the type of reason code, Originator PSP can send recalls 10 business days or 13 months in calendar days after the original payment was sent.

Beneficiary PSPs have 15 business days to respond to this recall request. In certain cases, They might have to take consent from the Beneficiary customer to return the funds.

If the beneficiary decides to reject the recall request, they respond with a camt.029.

Returns – Pacs.004

In SEPA instant, Returns are possible only on the back of a request for recall. If the Beneficiary PSP decides to give the funds back to the Originator PSP, then they use Pacs.004. These pacs.004 always have the reason code FOCR – Following Cancellation Request. These are value messages.