> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.yapily.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# European Payments

> Guide to European payment schemes supported by Yapily. Covers SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant, cross-border requirements, and EU-specific payment parameters.

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`:

<Accordion title="Countries">
  * 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)
</Accordion>

### 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:

<Accordion title="Countries">
  * Bulgaria
  * Croatia
  * Czech Republic
  * Denmark
  * Hungary
  * Iceland
  * Liechtenstein
  * Norway
  * Poland
  * Romania
  * Sweden
  * Switzerland
  * United Kingdom (including Gibraltar) \*
</Accordion>

<Info>
  \*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.
</Info>

## 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](/api-reference/authorisations/create-payment-authorisation).

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).