Retail payments


SENT is an electronic system for multilateral netting of interbank payments in domestic currency and interbank national and cross border euro payments, namely low value and large volume (retail) payments made between the participants during several sessions each day.

The system became operational in 2005 and was developed and implemented under PHARE RO-0005.02 Project titled "Interbank Payment System".

Its operator is TRANSFOND S.A., a trading company responsible for fund transfers and settlements that was established in 2000 by the National Bank of Romania (holding 33.33% of its share capital) and a number of banks (accounting for 66.67% of its share capital).

The SENT system is structured in three components and a series of auxiliary applications:

  1. Multiple Payments in RON (MPC RON) Component - ensures the processing of files with instructions for credit transfer, direct debit and debit transfer, in the national currency;
  2. The Multiple Payments in Euro Component (MPC Euro) - ensures the processing of credit transfer instruction files, in euro currency;
  3. The Instant Payments Component in RON (IPC RON) - ensures the processing of instant (individual) payments in the national currency;
  4. SENT auxiliary applications - facilitates the initiation by participants of payment instructions and their processing, respectively:
    1. The Single Mandate Register(RUM), through which the information on direct interbank debit mandates is managed at the national level. This auxiliary application provides MPC Ron with the necessary information for the automatic validation of direct debit instructions with the related direct debit mandates;
    2. Mandate Assistance (MA), which can be used to generate direct debit mandate initiation forms;
    3. AliasPay, through which a participant who initiates a payment processed by MPC RON or IPC RON can retrieve the IBAN code of the beneficiary of a payment, client of a SENT participant, through the telephone number associated by the beneficiary;
    4. SANB, through which a participant who initiates a payment processed by MPC RON or IPC RON can retrieve the name of the beneficiary of a payment, client of a SENT participant, through the beneficiary's IBAN account.

SENT system is designated by Order of the Governor of the National Bank of Romania no.637/15.06.2011 to fall under the provisions of the Law No.253/2004 on settlement finality in payment and securities settlement systems (transposing into the Romanian legislation Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on settlement finality in payments and securities settlement systems).

For further details regarding SENT system contact the system operator TRANSFOND S.A., please.