Who we are
EBA CLEARING is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure solutions. Founded in 1998, the Company is owned by 48 of the major banks operating in Europe and based on a country-neutral governance model. The payment systems of EBA CLEARING are pan-European by design and desire: they are developed in close co-operation with the Company’s multinational user community and best-of-breed technology partners.
EBA CLEARING manages two Systemically Important Payment Systems, the large-value euro payment system EURO1 and STEP2, a pan-European payment infrastructure platform for mass payments in euro, which provides full reach to all financial institutions across Europe processing credit transfers and direct debits in euro. This means that more than 4,800 financial institutions in all SEPA countries are currently reachable via STEP2.
With the support of 39 funding institutions from across SEPA and its technology partner SIA, EBA CLEARING has implemented RT1, a pan-European real-time payment infrastructure platform for euro transactions. The system is open to any AS-PSP adhering to the EPC’s SCT Inst Scheme and has handled instant payments in line with the scheme since its launch date in November 2017.
Where we come from
EBA CLEARING is a bank-owned provider of pan-European payment infrastructure solutions and was founded in June 1998 by 52 banks.
EBA CLEARING set one of the first milestones in the era of euro clearing in 1998, when the newly created company started operating EURO1, which the Euro Banking Association (EBA) had transferred to EBA CLEARING for the launch of the system in 1999. Today, EURO1 is the only private sector large-value payment system for single same-day euro transactions at a pan-European level. The EURO1 system processes transactions of high priority and urgency, and primarily of large amount, both at a domestic and at a cross-border level.
Since the year 2000, EBA CLEARING has also been operating the STEP1 single payment service on the EURO1 platform, which processes commercial euro transactions mainly for medium-sized and smaller banks.
Since April 2003, EBA CLEARING has been managing and operating the STEP2 platform, a Pan-European Automated Clearing House for mass payments in euro, which has been offering SEPA Services since January 2008. Today, the STEP2 platform extends SEPA-wide reach to over 4,800 financial institutions through its SEPA services and is one of the key euro mass payment systems in Europe. A dedicated STEP2 service for the clearing of card-initiated transactions was launched in April 2015.
In March 2013, EBA CLEARING launched MyBank, an e-authorisation solution for online payments and other online transactions, which is geared at facilitating the growth of e-commerce across Europe. MyBank enables customers to pay for online purchases all across Europe by using their familiar online banking interface. Today, MyBank is owned and managed by PRETA S.A.S., a wholly owned subsidiary of EBA CLEARING.
In November 2017, EBA CLEARING launched RT1, an infrastructure solution for the processing of instant SEPA credit transfers at a pan-European level. The new payment system operates around the clock on any day of the year. It supports payment service providers in transferring euro transactions between payment accounts in less than 10 seconds end to end, with immediate availability of the payment amount to the beneficiary.
Financial institutions from all over Europe can use RT1 for any payment product in euro that is fully compliant with the SCT Inst Scheme of the European Payments Council (EPC) and is in line with the ISO 20022 global messaging standards for real-time payments.