pain.001 (Credit Transfer Initiation)
pain.001 is the ISO 20022 message a customer sends to its bank to initiate credit transfers — the file format behind SEPA SCT batch uploads generated by ERPs and payroll systems.
Structure
A pain.001 file has a group header (message ID, creation timestamp, transaction count NbOfTxs, control sum CtrlSum, initiating party) followed by one or more payment information blocks, each containing a debtor account and a list of credit-transfer transactions — debtor/creditor names, IBANs, optional BICs, amounts in EUR, and remittance information. Banks verify that NbOfTxs and CtrlSum match the actual content.
For SEPA, pain.001.001.03 is the most widely accepted version; some banks also accept .001.09 (the ISO 20022:2019 version used for CGI/global rollouts). The schema version is declared in the xmlns — validators read it to apply the right rules.
SEPA-specific rules
SEPA constrains the base message: EUR currency, SLEV shared charges, and — inside the zone — BIC optional since banks derive it from the IBAN. Our generator builds conforming pain.001 from a simple CSV of payments, and the validator checks files against both schema and rulebook constraints.
Related Standards
- •ISO 20022 — pain.001 Customer Credit Transfer Initiation
- •EPC SCT rulebook
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