Relay (Payment Initiation Relay)

The ‘Relay’ service is a service provided by financial institutions that bundles payment orders from companies and transmits them to executing banks both domestically and abroad. The company requires an account with the executing bank (debtor agent), but not necessarily with the receiving relay/forwarding bank, provided that the latter merely forwards the pain.001 on behalf of the company.

The traditional MT 101 message format will be replaced by the pain.001 Relay by November 2026 as part of the ISO 20022 migration. Unlike the MT 101, the pain.001 Relay message (officially “Customer Credit Transfer Initiation – Relay”) is sent via the new FINplus network.

The Forwarding Agent must forward all information transmitted by the Initiating Party to the Debtor Agent as a pain.001 Relay message, unchanged, in full and in accordance with the Initiating Party’s instructions; data integrity must be maintained. If ‘UltmtCdtr’ is included in the original instruction, the Relay Agent must therefore not omit it or alter it without authorisation.