Catrine Rhenberg, Partner at Nurabal, shares what the payments industry needs to enable real cross-border SEPA connectivity through the One Leg Out (OLO) Instant Credit Transfer scheme (OCT Inst).
OLO’s promise depends on reciprocity, commercial clarity, and the right partners. Europe built the on-ramp. Who is building the off-ramp?
What is the One Leg Out (OLO) Instant Credit Transfer scheme?
At the end of 2023, the European Payments Council (EPC) launched the One Leg Out (OLO) Instant Credit Transfer scheme (OCT Inst). OCT Inst enables PSPs already within the SEPA area to process the EUR leg of an international instant credit transfer with minimal additional effort. The transaction limit mirrors SCT Inst at EUR 100,000, and the message formats are familiar, so for a bank already live on RT1 or TIPS, the incremental technical investment is modest. But as the name indicates, OLO governs only the EUR leg of a cross-border transaction. Everything that happens outside of SEPA borders relies on someone else.
The ambition behind OLO is to make cross-border payments as fast, transparent, and affordable as domestic ones. It is in line with the G20 Roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments, which established targets for speed, cost, transparency, and access by 2027. The scheme extends SEPA’s existing instant payment rails, using them as the foundation for a global connection to Europe.
OCT Inst scheme – progress and challenges to adoption
Two and a half years after launch, adoption remains limited. Fewer than 40 European payment institutions are actively participating, with Spain (via Iberpay) accounting for most of the live adoption. Iberpay built OCT Inst as an extension of its instant payment infrastructure, enabling Spanish banks to join without separate investment. However, the majority of European banks have been focusing on complying first with the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) and ISO 20022 migration, leaving OCT Inst to follow. Despite this, ten major multinational banks have signalled their intention to be reachable via RT1 by 2027, and the IXB pilot between RT1 and The Clearing House’s RTP network in the US has technically demonstrated that the model can work between compatible systems.
So what exactly is holding OCT Inst back? Conceptually, the scheme does what it promises: the transaction limit mirrors SCT Inst, it has familiar message formats, and requires modest investment. Yet the challenge comes from structural and commercial barriers, not technical ones. According to the rulebook, those involved in executing an OCT Inst transaction are free to determine among themselves who will perform the currency conversion when necessary (EPC095-23 v4.0). In other words, FX conversion responsibility is undefined.
Although the rulebook defines PSP roles in the abstract, it does not give enough practical guidance for scenarios where roles overlap or intermediaries are involved. Two banks looking at the same transaction can reach different conclusions about who is responsible for what. And while the scheme expects the EUR leg to be processed in 20 seconds, it offers little direction on how to reconcile speed with anti-money laundering (AML) obligations, sanctions screening, and fraud controls, especially where the counterparty operates under different standards from those within SEPA.
OCT Inst – from on- to off-ramp: requirements for interoperability
The corridors where cross-border instant payments would have the greatest impact are often the least prepared. An example is North Africa, which has domestic schemes at varying maturity levels, mainly designed for internal use with no interoperability layer targeting Europe. The Gulf states operate systems like Fawri+ and IPP, which are fast domestically but not developed as counterparts to SEPA. And while India’s UPI processes billions of domestic transactions monthly, it remains in its early stages of bilateral connection. In each of these markets, a clear off-ramp for OLO does not exist today.
So, what would make OLO work exactly? A functioning OLO corridor requires support for multiple currencies, different time zone management, accommodation for local banking cut-offs, high straight-through processing rates, and strong observability across the transaction lifecycle. However, to compete with correspondent banking, OLO must also be cheap, liquid, and deep enough in its local reach for the beneficiary experience to feel domestic. In most non-SEPA markets, no single institution holds all these capabilities. Real OLO enablement requires finding partners who can act as translators between Europe’s instant payment infrastructure and the domestic schemes, regulatory frameworks, and commercial realities on the non-European side. Not purely technical, but regulatory, commercial, and operational, this ‘translation work’ requires partners who understand both transaction legs, not just the EUR one.
What needs to change for OLO uptake in cross-border payments?
While clearer guidance on PSP roles, FX treatment, and compliance is required, European PSPs must also actively engage with non-SEPA instant payment scheme operators to co-design the off-ramp. Not only that, but commercial sustainability must be properly addressed: if OLO displaces correspondent banking revenue, what replaces it? The on-ramp is ready; the off-ramp is where the work remains.
This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Account-to-Account Payments Report 2026, which features insights into global trends, technologies, partnerships, and the next phase of the A2A evolution. Access the full report to understand where the A2A payments ecosystem stands today and what’s next.
About the author
Catrine Rhenberg is a payments expert and Partner at Nurabal, advising banks and fintechs on RTP solutions, cross-border transfers, and more. She previously held senior roles at PayPal and Trustly, among others, leading partnerships and ecosystem initiatives across Europe and beyond. Drawing on years of hands-on experience in digital payments, Catrine helps clients turn complex payment challenges into simple, reliable experiences for consumers and businesses in multiple markets.
About Nurabal
Nurabal is a niche payments consulting firm specialising in RTP schemes and cross-border instant payment connectivity. Headquartered in Singapore, Nurabal partners with global banks, fintechs, and payment infrastructures to design, optimise, and scale RTP-enabled propositions. With deep scheme and market expertise, Nurabal helps clients navigate technical interoperability, liquidity, and operating models to unlock new value from instant payments across multiple regions and use cases.
