Credit transfers
Credit transfers are a payment instrument which allows the drawees (individual person, enterprise or general government) to transfer funds from their account to the account of the beneficiary they indicate.
Customers order their payment service provider (generally a bank) to draw funds from their account and send them to another account (the beneficiary’s).
Evolution of credit transfers transactions
Jointly with the European Central Bank and other national central banks, Banco de Portugal oversees the operating rules of credit transfers based on a set of general standards set out in the Harmonised oversight approach and oversight standards for payment instruments and in the Oversight framework for credit transfer schemes (with the respective Guide for the assessment of credit transfer schemes against the oversight standards), established by the Eurosystem.
Customer to Bank Communication Manual
The Portuguese banking community has developed a harmonized communication format, applicable to SEPA credit transfers and SEPA direct debits, which aims to facilitate links between customers and payment service providers. This harmonized communication format is described in C2B – Customer to Bank Services (In Portuguese only).
