Skip to main content
Understand what payment type to use when making payments involving accounts from European institutions.

​
Introduction

There are 2 possible payment types: DOMESTIC_PAYMENT or INTERNATIONAL_PAYMENT. The type is DOMESTIC_PAYMENT if either of the following conditions are met:
  • Both the Payee and Payer accounts are in the same country (and the payment is in a local currency)
  • Both the Payee and Payer accounts are from SEPA member countries AND the payment is in euros
Otherwise, it is an INTERNATIONAL_PAYMENT.

​
SEPA Members

​
Eurozone Countries

You can make payments through Yapily’s payments API between the following Eurozone countries through SEPA payment schemes when the currency is euros using the payment type DOMESTIC_PAYMENT:
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Estonia
  • Finland (including Aland Islands)
  • France (including French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin (French part), Réunion and Saint Pierre and Miquelon)
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Monaco (Monaco and San Marino have bilateral agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency)
  • Netherlands
  • Portugal (including Azores and Madeira)
  • San Marino (Monaco and San Marino have bilateral agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency)
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain (including Canary Islands and Ceuta en Melilla)

​
Non-Eurozone Countries

You can make payments through Yapily’s payments API from non-Eurozone countries using the type DOMESTIC_PAYMENT through the SEPA payment schemes if the account is euro-denominated. For payments made in the local currency, the appropriate national schemes are used:
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom (including Gibraltar) *
*The UK is a SEPA member country, but to be able to send payments from the UK to other SEPA member countries, the sending or receiving UK account needs to be a euro-denominated account and must offer a GB prefixed IBAN. Most traditional banks do not support this so this option is usually only available using challenger banks e.g. Revolut and Starling.

​
SEPA Instant payments

SEPA also has a SEPA Instant variant which executes payments instantly (within 10 seconds). An institution that supports SEPA Instant payments has the following features:
  • INITIATE_DOMESTIC_SINGLE_INSTANT_PAYMENT
  • CREATE_DOMESTIC_SINGLE_INSTANT_PAYMENT
When creating a SEPA Instant payment, you should specify the payment type as DOMESTIC_INSTANT_PAYMENT in the payment request. An institution may default to using SEPA Instant variant over SEPA. An institution may also decide to charge the customer for SEPA Instant payments. Yapily provides the option for a customer to choose between using a SEPA or SEPA Instant payment.

​
When can SEPA not be used?

Scenario 1: The payee is a SEPA member but the payer is not a SEPA member:
  • As both Payer and Payee are not SEPA members, the payment is not eligible for SEPA.
  • The Payer and Payee are not in the same country so to execute the payment you need to use INTERNATIONAL_PAYMENT as the payment type.
  • The country specific international payment rail will be applied.
Scenario 2: The payee is not a SEPA member but the payer is a SEPA member:
  • As both Payer and Payee are not SEPA members, the payment is not eligible for SEPA.
  • The Payer and Payee are not in the same country so to execute the payment you need to use INTERNATIONAL_PAYMENT as the payment type.
  • The Cross Border rail will be applied.
Scenario 3: Both the payee and payer are not SEPA members but are in the same country:
  • As both Payer and Payee are not SEPA members, the payment is not eligible for SEPA.
  • The Payer and Payee are in the same country so to execute the payment you need to use DOMESTIC_PAYMENT as the payment type.
  • The payment rail supported by the country’s domestic payment system will apply e.g. FPS in the UK.
Scenario 4: Both the payee and payer are not SEPA members and are in different countries:
  • As both Payer and Payee are not SEPA members, the payment is not eligible for SEPA.
  • The Payer and Payee are not in the same country so to execute the payment you need to use INTERNATIONAL_PAYMENT as the payment type.
  • Any international payment rail will be applied e.g. SWIFT or Cross Border.

​
Known Exceptions

At the moment there is only 1 exception known by Yapily (please be aware that this might change in future. If you see any other exception please let us know.):
  • Due to NatWest Group particularities we have integrated them with payment being eligible for SEPA being of payment type INTERNATIONAL_PAYMENT. This includes all NatWest Group banking brands (NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, Coutts, etc).