Your bank can now settle a transfer in ten seconds. Your ERP can generate a standardised e-invoice. But between those two capabilities, one link is still missing: who triggers the payment, and how? That is precisely the gap that SEPA Request-to-Pay (R2P) fills — the European Payments Council’s new scheme that shifts initiative in the Order-to-Cash cycle from the debtor back to the creditor.
R2P is not a minor technical update. It is a structural change in the financial relationship between creditor and debtor — with direct implications for your Accounts Receivable module, your DSO management, and how your reconciliation workflows are configured. This guide explains what R2P is in practical terms, where deployment stands in 2026, and what your Finance teams need to prepare.
SEPA Request-to-Pay — What Exactly Is It?
The Core Difference from Credit Transfers, Direct Debits and Instant Payments
To understand R2P, you first need to distinguish four mechanisms that are frequently confused.
The SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) is initiated by the debtor: they log into their banking interface, enter the amount and IBAN, and confirm the transaction. The creditor waits — with no guaranteed timeline.
The SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) is initiated by the creditor, but on the basis of a pre-existing mandate: a standing authorisation allowing the creditor to debit the debtor’s account without requiring action at each transaction. The trade-off is a high dispute risk: the debtor has eight weeks to contest an unauthorised debit.
The SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is a standard credit transfer executed in under ten seconds, 24/7 — it represents settlement speed, not a new type of initiation.
The SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) is fundamentally different: it is creditor-initiated, but it is not a direct debit. It sends a structured payment request to the debtor, who must actively accept, refuse, or defer it from their banking interface. If the debtor accepts, settlement is triggered — typically via SCT Inst — in real time. Initiative sits with the creditor, but consent remains with the debtor at each transaction.
The EPC SRTP Rulebook Version 4.0
The EPC published version 4.0 of the SEPA Request-to-Pay Scheme Rulebook, which is the current reference version of the scheme. It introduces, among other things, the requirement for participants to register in the EPC Directory Service (EDS) — a centralised directory enabling the sender of an R2P request to locate the recipient’s PSP.
Messages are standardised in ISO 20022: pain.013 for the initial payment request, pain.014 for the debtor’s response. These formats belong to the same family as the credit transfer (PAIN.001) and direct debit (PAIN.008) messages already known to ERP Finance modules.
Deployment Timeline 2025-2027
SRTP is not mandatory, unlike the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, whose reception has been compulsory since January 2025 and whose emission has been compulsory since October 2025 for banks in the euro area. The R2P scheme relies on voluntary PSP participation.
According to documents published by the EPC at the 24th Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) meeting, the rollout follows this timeline:
- 1 October 2025: launch of a simplified accreditation process for PSPs.
- Accreditation Wave 1 2026: 1 February – 30 April 2026.
- Accreditation Wave 2 2026: 1 April – 30 June 2026.
- Accreditation Wave 3 2026: 1 September – 30 November 2026.
- End of September 2026: opening of the EPC Directory Service (EDS) to SRTP participants.
At the time of writing, three PSPs and three Referenced Technical Solution Providers (RTSPs) have been accredited and listed in the EPC participant register. Adoption remains nascent, but the 2026 accreditation waves should mark the scheme’s real acceleration.
Why R2P Changes the Rules for Finance Teams
The Creditor Reclaims Payment Initiative
In the traditional O2C cycle, the creditor issues an invoice and waits. The transfer arrives when the debtor decides — often at D+30, D+45, or even D+60 depending on sector practices. This passive model drives the majority of DSO overruns in B2B companies.
R2P structurally reverses this dynamic: from the moment of invoicing, the creditor can push a payment request directly into the debtor’s banking interface. The debtor is notified — in their banking app, treasury portal, or ERP if their PSP has a notification API. They must respond actively.
This active notification transforms the collections process: instead of sending reminder emails and hoping for a reaction, the creditor pushes the request into the debtor’s decision interface.
Real-Time Confirmation, Better Cash Predictability
When the debtor accepts the request, settlement via SCT Inst arrives in under ten seconds. When they decline or defer, the creditor immediately receives a structured response — with an optional reason code. In both cases, the Finance team knows exactly where each invoice stands, without waiting for a bank statement to close.
This real-time confirmation stream mechanically improves cash forecasting: cash positions are no longer calculated on assumed lead times, but on actual confirmations received transaction by transaction.
The Winning Combination: Peppol E-Invoicing + SEPA R2P
The most strategic connection is between standardised e-invoicing (Peppol BIS, Factur-X) and R2P. In this flow, the e-invoice already contains all the necessary information: amount, IBAN, structured reference, due date. The creditor’s ERP can extract this data and automatically generate the pain.013 message without manual input.
This is the “invoice pulls payment” model: the invoice automatically triggers the payment request, and the debtor’s response triggers settlement. The potential for a fully automated O2C cycle is real — provided both parties are equipped and their respective PSPs have joined the SRTP scheme.
Cost Advantage Over Business Card Payments
R2P offers a structural cost advantage over card-based B2B payments. SEPA transfers (and therefore SCT Inst as the underlying rail) carry no interchange fees, unlike card payments where processing costs can reach 1–3% of the transaction value. For high-value B2B transactions, the saving is significant.
How R2P Integrates into the Order-to-Cash Cycle
The R2P flow involves five steps within the O2C cycle:
Step 1 — Invoice issuance: the invoice is generated in the ERP’s AR module (Factur-X, Peppol BIS, or PDF format depending on the transmission channel). The AR module extracts the amount, creditor IBAN, structured reference, and due date.
Step 2 — R2P message dispatch (pain.013): the ERP’s treasury or AR module generates an ISO 20022 pain.013 message and sends it to the creditor’s PSP, which routes it to the debtor’s PSP via the SRTP network and the EDS.
Step 3 — Debtor notification: the debtor’s PSP notifies its customer — a push notification in the banking app, or a notification in the debtor’s ERP if the PSP exposes a notification API. The debtor has a configurable period to respond (the maximum duration is defined in Rulebook v4.0).
Step 4 — Debtor response (pain.014): they accept (immediately triggering an SCT Inst), decline (with a structured reason code), or defer (specifying a future settlement date).
Step 5 — Automatic reconciliation: the settlement confirmation (CAMT.054) immediately feeds the creditor ERP’s AR module. Automated matching is enabled when the ISO 20022 structured reference is correctly configured upstream.
Priority B2B Use Cases
One-off invoice with a short payment window: a service provider can send an R2P request as soon as the invoice is issued and receive same-day settlement if the client accepts — bypassing the standard D+30 cycle.
Project advance payment: instead of waiting for a manual transfer on a purchase order, the project manager sends the R2P request for the advance and receives payment confirmation before work begins.
Recurring B2B subscription: unlike direct debit (contestable for eight weeks), R2P is based on active consent at each billing cycle. Debtors can configure automatic acceptance for listed suppliers, combining the automation of direct debit with the transparency of a credit transfer.
ERP Readiness in 2026
The reality in 2026 is that major generalist ERPs do not yet have a native SRTP module. The scheme is too recent and bank adoption too limited to have justified native development in published roadmaps.
SAP S/4HANA
SAP does not have a native SRTP module in S/4HANA at the time of writing. The Advanced Payment Management module is progressively incorporating ISO 20022 formats, but explicit support for the EPC SRTP scheme (pain.013/014) is not documented in the S/4HANA 2025 or 2026 release notes. In October 2026, SAP launched SAP Pay, an embedded payment service within SAP Cloud ERP operating in Europe — but its current scope covers credit transfers and clearing, not the SRTP scheme.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance
Dynamics 365 Finance supports ISO 20022 via GER (Generic Electronic Reporting) files and SEPA Credit Transfer formats. Explicit support for the SRTP scheme (pain.013/014) does not appear in Release Plans published to date. Finance teams will need to work through a partner connector or a payment orchestration solution.
Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials
The same applies to Oracle Fusion: the Payments module supports ISO 20022 and SEPA SCT/SDD, but an official R2P roadmap is not publicly documented.
Sage, Access Group, Odoo
Mid-market European ERP publishers have not yet announced a native SRTP module. Odoo 17/18 supports SEPA via the l10n_sepa extension (classic SCT) — extension to SRTP is possible via partner API but not integrated as standard.
Interim Solutions
For Finance teams that want to activate R2P without waiting for a native ERP module, three types of solutions enable centralised pain.013/014 message handling:
- Kyriba: centralised treasury platform with multi-bank ISO 20022 connectivity, usable as an R2P orchestrator bridging the ERP and the PSP.
- Cobase: cloud bank connectivity connector compatible with SAP S/4HANA, Oracle NetSuite, and Dynamics 365, connected via SWIFT, EBICS and API.
- TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions): payment factory solution with ISO 20022 format support and multi-ERP integration.
What Finance Teams Should Prepare Now
R2P is not yet mandatory and bank adoption remains early-stage in 2026 — but EPC accreditation waves are underway and the EDS opens at end of September 2026. Finance teams that want to capture the early operational benefits have an incentive to prepare before implementation becomes urgent.
Five-Point Checklist
-
Verify your main bank’s SRTP accreditation: ask your account manager about your PSP’s SRTP accreditation status. You can consult the EPC public participant register.
-
Audit your AR module: can it generate pain.013 messages, or interface with a payment orchestration solution? Put the question to your ERP integrator with a written request for an official position.
-
Check your ISO 20022 structured references: R2P requires standardised invoice references for automatic reconciliation. If your invoices still use free-text unstructured references, an upgrade is required before any R2P integration.
-
Update your customer terms: R2P means your customers will receive payment requests in their banking interface. Inform them and consider adding a contractual clause.
-
Budget 3–6 months for implementation: between the audit, solution selection (native module or third-party connector), PSP testing, and Credit Management team training, a realistic timeline is 3 to 6 months.
Questions to Ask Your ERP Integrator
- “Does your roadmap include native support for the EPC SRTP scheme (pain.013/014)?” — and for which version or release?
- “What is your recommendation for an interim R2P implementation while waiting for the native module?”
- “How do you handle CAMT.054 integration in push mode for real-time reconciliation?”
- “Is our counterparty master data compliant with ISO 20022 structured addresses?” — reminder: unstructured address format is prohibited in all EPC messages since November 2025.
To go deeper on the impact of SEPA Instant on your ERP treasury module, read our guide SEPA Instant Payment 2026: Why Your ERP Treasury Module Is Probably Not Ready. To optimise the full Order-to-Cash cycle, see our article Order-to-Cash in Your ERP: Reduce DSO and Automate B2B Collections and our guide ERP Accounts Receivable: Credit Management, Dunning and DSO Reduction.
