How long does a SEPA transfer take?
A standard SEPA transfer arrives within one business day. SEPA Instant arrives in about ten seconds, any time. Here is what affects the timing.
The short answer
- SEPA Instant: about 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
- Standard SEPA transfer: by the end of the next business day after your bank receives the order.
Work out the exact day with our SEPA transfer time calculator.
Why standard transfers can take longer than a day
Cut-off times
Each bank has a daily cut-off time. An order placed after it counts as received the next business day. Cut-offs vary by bank, often in the afternoon.
Weekends and closing days
Standard SEPA transfers settle on TARGET2 business days. Weekends are not business days, and neither are 1 January, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1 May, 25 December and 26 December. A transfer sent on Friday evening typically arrives on Tuesday.
Checks by your bank
Banks may hold a payment for fraud or anti-money-laundering checks, especially a large first payment to a new payee.
SEPA Instant: now the norm in the euro area
Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation, banks in the euro area must be able to receive and send instant euro transfers, and may not charge more for an instant transfer than for a standard one. Banks outside the euro area follow later deadlines. The payee's bank must also support it; if it doesn't, your bank tells you and you can send a standard transfer instead.
Payee name check
Before a euro transfer is sent, your bank now checks whether the name you entered matches the account holder of the IBAN, and warns you if it doesn't. Take the warning seriously: it is one of the best protections against scams and typos.
What a SEPA transfer costs
For euro payments within the SEPA area, banks may not charge more for a cross-border transfer than for the same transfer within your own country. Many accounts include SEPA transfers for free. Currency conversion is a different matter: if either account is not in euro, check the exchange rate.
Before you send: check the IBAN
Most failed or delayed transfers come from a mistyped IBAN. Our free IBAN checker catches typos before you pay.
Paying from several banks?
Sapthan Pay lets you pay by SEPA from any of your linked European accounts, with each payment approved at your own bank.