Sixteen more banks have joined the Euro Banking Association's Step1 cross-border retail payment system, bringing the total number of members to 179.
The Step1 system recently moved to same-day processing and began processing inter-bank payments and MT400 cheque collection messages.
The EBA says it is currently preparing new enhancements, including direct debits, for implementation in September.
Participants will also be able to directly access the Step2 pan-European ACH that the EBA is currently implementing for the processing of file transfers.