How YowPay Turns Instant SEPA Transfers into a High-Converting, Low-Cost Payment Channel

Card payments have dominated digital commerce for years, but they come with familiar pain points: high fees, chargebacks, rolling reserves, and customers who simply do not want to use their cards online. Instant SEPA bank transfers are changing that equation, and YowPay is making them not just possible, but profitable for modern merchants.

By combining Instant SEPA transfers, EPC QR code payments, Open Banking / Payment Initiation Services (PIS) and manual SEPA transfers into one smart, merchant-friendly platform, YowPay helps you capture more sales, lower costs, and unlock instant access to your funds.

Why Bank Transfers Are the Next Big Thing in Payments

Account-to-account (A2A) payments, where money moves directly from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s account, are rapidly gaining ground in Europe. When powered by SEPA Instant, they become a compelling alternative to cards for both customers and merchants.

What Is SEPA Instant?

SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (often shortened to SEPA Instant) is a pan-European scheme that allows euro transfers to be executed in seconds, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, between participating banks in the SEPA area. Instead of waiting hours or days for funds to settle, merchants receive payments almost immediately, within the limits and conditions set by each bank.

For merchants, this means:

• Real-time settlement so you see money in your account almost instantly.
• Availability every day including evenings, weekends and holidays, depending on bank support.
• Predictable cash flow without having to wait for card payouts or deal with rolling reserves.

Why Customers Like Paying by Bank Transfer

Customers increasingly appreciate having a bank transfer option alongside cards and wallets because it helps them:

• Avoid card limits or declines when their credit card is near its limit or temporarily blocked.
• Feel more in control by paying directly from their familiar banking app.
• Reduce card exposure especially for high-ticket or infrequent purchases.
• Keep a clear bank transfer trace for business, tax or reimbursement purposes.

The challenge has been making SEPA payments as fast and seamless as card payments. That is exactly where YowPay comes in.

Meet YowPay: Instant SEPA Designed for Merchants

YowPay is a merchant payment platform focused on one mission: turning Instant SEPA bank transfers into a smooth, conversion-boosting payment experience across e‑commerce and in‑person channels.

Instead of forcing customers into a single flow, YowPay intelligently combines three ways to pay by bank transfer:

• EPC QR code scanning directly from the customer’s mobile banking app.
• Open Banking / PIS initiation where the customer selects their bank, logs in and confirms the transfer.
• Manual SEPA transfer where the customer enters pre-filled transfer details in their banking interface.

Behind the scenes, YowPay uses smart routing to optimise the path for each payment so it is as fast and frictionless as possible, while keeping the merchant fully in control.

Key Capabilities at a Glance

• Instant SEPA across channels for online checkouts and in‑person point of sale.
• Turnkey Instant Business SEPA IBANs (BE/FR) so you can receive payments on dedicated business accounts.
• B2B and C2B inflows support ideal for both invoice payments and consumer purchases.
• Dedicated IBANs for card settlement to simplify reconciliation and manage card settlement flows separately.
• Funds instantly available for payouts with no rolling reserves on the payment accounts provided.
• Seamless integration via e‑commerce plugins or a mobile point‑of-sale app for in‑person payments.

YowPay is not a bank or an e‑wallet. It facilitates SEPA Instant transfers and provides merchants with payment accounts opened via a regulated European electronic money issuer, while keeping the movement of funds within the classical banking and e‑money framework.

How YowPay Works in Practice

From the customer’s perspective, paying with YowPay is simple and reassuring. From the merchant’s perspective, it is designed to be fast, traceable and low-cost.

Customer Journey in E‑Commerce

Here is what a typical online payment flow looks like with YowPay:

1. At checkout, the customer chooses to pay by bank with YowPay.
2. They pick their preferred method among three options: scanning an EPC QR code with their bank app, starting an Open Banking / PIS flow, or making a manual SEPA transfer using pre-filled details.
3. They confirm the payment in their banking environment. Strong customer authentication is handled by their bank.
4. The Instant SEPA transfer is executed. In most cases, the funds reach the YowPay business payment account almost immediately.
5. You receive instant confirmation and can process the order. Because the payment is an irrevocable SEPA credit transfer, there is no card chargeback risk on that transaction stream.

This extra payment choice helps you capture customers who either cannot or prefer not to pay by card, cutting down on abandoned carts and “payment failed” frustration.

Customer Journey at the Point of Sale

YowPay also supports in‑person payments via a mobile point‑of‑sale app:

1. Your staff enters the amount in the YowPay mobile app.
2. The app displays an EPC QR code or launches the appropriate flow.
3. The customer scans the QR code with their banking app or follows the Open Banking / PIS process.
4. The customer confirms the transfer, and the funds arrive in your business payment account in near real time.

For many merchants, this effectively turns salespeople’s smartphones into flexible payment terminals, reducing hardware costs and speeding up deployment. Some businesses have reported saving tens of thousands of euros per year after replacing part of their traditional POS card processing with YowPay.

Smart Routing: Three Paths, One Optimised Payment

Not all customers, banks or devices behave the same way. That is why YowPay was built with smart routing at its core.

For every transaction, the platform intelligently manages how the payment request is presented and processed across:

• EPC QR code which is quickly scanned within compatible banking apps and pre-fills the transfer.
• Open Banking / PIS flows where the customer connects securely to their bank and authorises a payment.
• Manual SEPA transfers where necessary, with clear and accurate transfer details to limit human error.

The result is higher completion rates and a smoother user experience, even across different banks and customer segments.

Business Payment Accounts Built for Instant SEPA

To receive SEPA Instant transfers efficiently, merchants need suitable payment accounts. YowPay removes this complexity by providing access to Instant Business SEPA IBANs via a regulated European electronic money issuer.

Turnkey Instant Business SEPA IBANs (BE/FR)

YowPay can provide Instant Business SEPA IBANs in Belgium and France so you can start receiving SEPA Instant transfers quickly and professionally, without having to negotiate with multiple banks.

These IBANs are designed for commercial use, and support both:

• B2B inflows such as invoice payments from business customers or partners.
• C2B inflows such as payments from consumers in your online store or physical locations.

Dedicated IBANs for Card Settlement and Reconciliation

Many merchants still accept cards alongside SEPA transfers, and YowPay does not require you to choose one or the other. In fact, you can use dedicated IBANs for card settlement so that card payouts and SEPA inflows are clearly separated.

This separation simplifies accounting and reconciliation, and helps you track exactly how much volume is migrating from cards to SEPA Instant over time.

Instant Availability and No Rolling Reserves

Because the payment accounts associated with YowPay are built for SEPA Instant, funds are available as soon as the transfer arrives and can be used immediately for payouts or other business needs.

Unlike many card acquiring arrangements, there are no rolling reserves on these SEPA Instant inflows on the payment accounts provided, which means less cash is locked away and more is ready to reinvest in growth.

Security and Control by Design

Payments are all about trust. YowPay’s architecture is built to secure payment flows and protect both merchants and their customers.

Not a Bank, Not an E‑Wallet – and No Funds Flow Through YowPay Itself

YowPay positions itself clearly: it is not a bank and not an e‑wallet. Instead, it acts as the technology layer that facilitates SEPA Instant transfers and provides access to business payment accounts through a regulated European electronic money issuer.

Importantly, financial flows do not pass through YowPay’s own balance sheet. The money moves from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s payment account within the traditional banking and e‑money infrastructure, with YowPay orchestrating the data and payment initiation steps.

Restricted Payouts to Pre‑Approved Accounts

To protect merchants against fraud and unauthorised transfers, YowPay restricts outgoing payouts from payment accounts to pre‑approved destination accounts. These pre‑approved accounts can belong to your company or to other group entities you have validated.

This design drastically reduces the risk that someone could redirect funds to an unknown external account, even in the event of compromised credentials.

Two‑Factor Authentication for Sensitive Actions

On top of payout restrictions, two‑factor authentication (2FA) is used to verify sensitive operations. This means a simple password is not enough to trigger key actions; an additional factor is required to confirm that the authorised person is indeed initiating the transaction.

Combined with the strong customer authentication already applied by banks in Open Banking / PIS flows, this layered approach gives merchants a robust security posture without sacrificing convenience.

Commercial Impact: Higher Conversion and Lower Costs

YowPay is not just a technical solution; it is a revenue and margin improvement tool. Merchants using it typically aim for three main outcomes:

• Capture more sales by offering an additional, trusted payment choice.
• Reduce transaction costs compared to card-based payments.
• Secure their cash flow with instant, irrevocable transfers and no rolling reserves on SEPA inflows.

Reducing Abandoned Carts

Many customers abandon their cart right at the payment step because:

• Their card is declined, close to its limit or temporarily blocked.
• They are uncomfortable entering card details on a new website.
• Their card issuer applies additional checks that slow down the process.

By offering Instant SEPA transfers with YowPay, you give these customers a credible alternative: pay directly from their bank, often with just a QR scan or a quick login to their banking app. This keeps more customers in the funnel and converts previously “lost” orders into revenue.

Fewer Chargebacks and Disputes

Chargebacks are an expensive and time‑consuming downside of card payments. Because SEPA credit transfers are push payments initiated by the customer, not pull payments initiated by the merchant, the traditional card chargeback mechanism does not apply in the same way.

Merchants using YowPay have highlighted an important benefit: additional payments without card chargebacks, which reduces both direct financial losses and internal operational overhead.

Lower Payment Costs and Real Merchant Savings

Card processing typically involves percentage‑based fees tied to transaction volume, plus scheme fees, interchange and chargeback handling costs. By migrating part of your volume to Instant SEPA transfers, you can significantly reduce your reliance on card schemes.

Merchant feedback shared by YowPay includes:

• Significant reductions in payment costs thanks to limiting card usage where a SEPA alternative is more efficient.
• Cost savings without percentage‑based commissions on turnover in certain configurations.
• One SME reporting around 30,000 euros per year in savings after deploying YowPay and replacing physical POS terminals with mobile phones for many in‑person payments.

These savings free up budget for marketing, staffing or product development, directly supporting growth.

Instant Liquidity and Healthier Cash Flow

Because funds arrive in near real time and there are no rolling reserves on the SEPA Instant inflows to the provided accounts, your working capital position improves.

This means you can:

• Pay suppliers faster when discounts are available for early payment.
• Invest quickly in campaigns or inventory when you see demand rising.
• Reduce reliance on short‑term credit that might otherwise cover slow card settlements and reserves.

Cards vs Instant SEPA via YowPay: A Practical Comparison

Every business mix is different, and cards will likely remain part of your payment stack. But shifting even a portion of your volume to Instant SEPA can add up quickly.

Who Gets the Biggest Benefit from YowPay?

Any merchant who accepts euro payments in the SEPA area can benefit from YowPay, but some profiles tend to see particularly strong impact.

• High‑ticket e‑commerce such as vehicles, equipment, training or luxury goods, where card limits and fees can be problematic.
• B2B service providers and wholesalers used to invoice‑based payments and bank transfers, who want to streamline and accelerate collections.
• Subscription or repeat‑billing businesses that want to diversify beyond cards and reduce involuntary churn linked to card expiry or reissue.
• Merchants with frequent chargebacks who want a safer, bank‑transfer‑based payment option for certain products or customer segments.
• SMEs wanting to cut payment costs and reinvest savings into marketing, staffing or expansion.

Because YowPay supports both e‑commerce integration and in‑person acceptance through its mobile POS app, it is especially attractive for businesses that sell across channels and want a unified Instant SEPA strategy.

From Demo to Live Payments: Implementing YowPay

YowPay is designed to get you from discovery to first live payment quickly, often starting with a short guided demonstration.

What You See in a Typical 20‑Minute Demo

During a standard demo session, you can expect to see how YowPay may help you:

• Capture more sales by adding Instant SEPA as an additional payment method.
• Cut your transaction fees by shifting appropriate flows away from cards.
• Improve your customer experience with fast, intuitive payment flows.

The demo typically walks through the customer journey on both desktop and mobile, plus how back‑office teams see and manage incoming payments.

Integration Pathways

Once you decide to move forward, there are several ways to integrate YowPay into your operations:

• E‑commerce plugins to connect your online store with minimal technical effort.
• Light integration in your billing or invoicing system so SEPA payment instructions are embedded into your payment flows.
• Mobile POS app deployment so your sales team can accept Instant SEPA payments in‑store or on the move.

Merchants report that on‑site implementation can be almost instantaneous when using the mobile app, with salespeople’s phones replacing traditional POS terminals for many transactions.

Setting Up Accounts and Controls

As part of onboarding, you will:

• Open your Instant Business SEPA IBANs through YowPay’s regulated e‑money partner.
• Define your pre‑approved payout accounts to which funds can be withdrawn.
• Configure user roles and two‑factor authentication for administrators and finance staff.
• Test end‑to‑end payment flows before going fully live.

Once configured, your team can manage incoming transfers, track performance, and monitor savings compared to previous payment methods.

Why Now Is the Right Time to Add Instant SEPA with YowPay

Instant SEPA is no longer a niche experiment. It is a mainstream capability deployed across a growing number of European banks and heavily supported by regulators and the industry. Merchants who start integrating it today are positioning themselves ahead of the curve.

YowPay gives you a way to embrace this shift without building complex payment infrastructure yourself. You get:

• A modern customer experience with QR codes, Open Banking and smart routing.
• Business‑grade payment accounts with Instant SEPA IBANs and dedicated settlement options.
• Strong security controls including 2FA and restricted payouts to pre‑approved accounts.
• Proven commercial benefits from lower costs, reduced chargebacks and fewer abandoned carts.

If you are looking to expand your payment options, increase conversion and break free from the limitations of card‑only processing, adding Instant SEPA with YowPay is a powerful move.

Schedule a demo, run the numbers on your own transaction volumes, and see how much additional revenue and savings Instant SEPA bank transfers could unlock for your business.