pacs.008 ISO 20022 message
Published on
15/12/2023
Reading time
3 min
pacs.008 ISO 20022 message: Definition
pacs.008 ISO 20022 message stands for “Financial Institution To Financial Institution Customer Credit Transfer”.
pacs.008 ISO 20022 message: Scope
The pacs.008 is the interbank XML format with which a credit transfer is transmitted from the sender (debitor) bank to the recipient (creditor) bank.
This message contains the actual payment, i.e. the information about which amount is to be paid from which account of the customer (debtor) to which account of the recipient (creditor).
The pacs.008 is the initial payment message. All other SEPA formats (camt.056 ISO 20022 message, camt.029 ISO 20022 message, pacs.004 ISO 20022 message, pacs.028, camt.027 and camt.087) always refer to this pacs.008.
pacs.008 ISO 20022 message: Usage
General information
The pacs.008 is the XML format in which banks exchange payments with one another. Depending on the payment scheme, individual transfer orders (SCT Inst, SWIFT, TARGET2) or a large number of transfers in one file (SEPA SCT) are transmitted.
SEPA SCT
SCT Inter-PSP Customer Credit Transfer – pacs.008.001.02 (from March 17, 2024 this version will be replaced by pacs.008.001.08!)
Use of the pacs.008 ISO 20022 message in SEPA SCT
The pacs.008 message is used in the SEPA-Clearer to transfer credits in bulk (several credits in one file) or as individual payments between banks.
A sent pacs.008 can be recalled with a camt.056 ISO 20022 message. The recall must be justified and the reason must be given in the camt.056. However, it is up to the recipient to decide whether or not to accept the recall. If he agrees, the initiator of the recall will receive a pacs.004 ISO 20022 message.
If the recall is rejected, the initiator of the recall will receive a camt.029 ISO 20022 message.
In the official SEPA SCT documentation, the German Bundesbank has now replaced “interbanken” with “Inter-PSP”, where PSP stands for “Payment Service Provider”, since more and more the pacs format can also be used by non-banks.
SEPA SCT Inst
- SCT Inst FIToFICustomerCreditTransfer V2 – pacs.008.001.02 (currently used for SEPA SCT Inst transfers in Euro)
- SCT Inst FIToFICustomerCreditTransfer V8 – pacs.008.001.08 (from March 17, 2024 this version will replace V2!)
Use of the pacs.008 ISO 20022 message in SEPA SCT Inst
With a pacs.008.01.02, a single instant payment credit in euros can be transferred from the debtor bank to the creditor bank.The transaction must be completed within 10 seconds. TIPS or RT1 confirm the settlement of the credit with a positive pacs.002 ISO 20022 message with reason code ACCP or reject the settlement with a negative pacs.002 with reason code RJCT.
The pacs.008.001.08, on the other hand, is used to transfer non-Euro instant transactions from the debtor bank to a creditor bank.
SWIFT/TARGET2 MX
FIToFICustomerCreditTransfer – pacs.008.001.08
Use of the pacs.008 ISO 20022 message in SWIFT / TARGET2
The pacs.008 message is used to transfer credits as individual payments between banks worldwide.
SWIFT also allows payments in other (non-Euro) currencies.
Here, a sent pacs.008 can be also recalled with a camt.056 ISO 20022 message. However, the decision as to whether the recall will be granted is in this case with the recipient. If the recipient agrees, the initiator of the recall will receive a pacs.004. If the recipient rejects the callback, the initiator of the recall will receive a camt.029.
Sources for specifications