GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
PAYMENTSSIGNAL

The interactive academy for the standards, messages, and rails that move money.

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SIC (SWITZERLAND RTGS)

Held in SIC: a Swiss payment waiting for cover

Trigger: Bank Alfa's SIC settlement account lacks sufficient cover (SNB sight deposit balance) to settle a payment.

Contributor Shubham Mathure

What operations sees first: A payment order does not execute at once; SIC holds it until sufficient cover is available.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

No money moved while held — Bank Alfa's settlement account was untouched until cover arrived.

DID SETTLEMENT HAPPEN?

Settlement was deferred until cover was available, then completed gross, irrevocable and final.

WHO ACTS NEXT?

Bank Alfa (sending bank) Bank Alfa keeps sufficient cover on its SNB sight deposit balance so payments settle without waiting.

PLAY THE EXCEPTION

Trigger: Bank Alfa's SIC settlement account does not hold CHF 1,200,000.00 of SNB sight deposit balance when the order is checked.

STEP 1 / 5MESSAGE

Bank Alfa submits the payment order

Bank Alfa (sending bank) → SIC / SIX Interbank Clearing

The sending bank transmits its SIC payment order to SIX Interbank Clearing, which operates the system on behalf of the SNB. This is an instruction — no money has moved yet.

Step 1 of 5: Bank Alfa submits the payment order

  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa submits the payment orderBank Alfa (sending bank) → SIC / SIX Interbank Clearing
  2. 02Processing
    SIC verifies sufficient coverSIC / SIX Interbank Clearing
  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    The order is queued, not settledSIC / SIX Interbank Clearing → Bank Alfa (sending bank)
  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessing
    Bank Alfa's cover is restoredBank Alfa (sending bank)
  5. 05 · EXCEPTION PATHSettlement
    The queued order settles once cover is availableBank Alfa (sending bank) → Nordbank (receiving bank)
  6. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Not yet paid to the beneficiary; the order is held in SIC's queue until Bank Alfa has cover.
    Settlement
    Settlement waited on cover — the order did not settle until the SNB sight deposit balance was sufficient.
    Who acts next
    Bank Alfa (sending bank) — Bank Alfa manages its intraday liquidity so its SNB sight deposit account can cover outgoing SIC orders.
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa submits the payment orderBank Alfa (sending bank) → SIC / SIX Interbank Clearing

    The sending bank transmits its SIC payment order to SIX Interbank Clearing, which operates the system on behalf of the SNB. This is an instruction — no money has moved yet.

  2. 02Processing
    SIC verifies sufficient coverSIC / SIX Interbank Clearing

    SIC checks that Bank Alfa's settlement account holds enough of an SNB sight deposit balance to fund the order. An RTGS system settles only when the money is actually there.

  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    The order is queued, not settledSIC / SIX Interbank Clearing → Bank Alfa (sending bank)

    An RTGS system will not settle an order it cannot cover, so SIC holds the payment in a queue rather than rejecting it, waiting for cover to arrive.

  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessing
    Bank Alfa's cover is restoredBank Alfa (sending bank)

    Incoming SIC payments or a liquidity top-up raise Bank Alfa's SNB sight deposit balance so the queued order can be funded.

  5. 05 · EXCEPTION PATHSettlement
    The queued order settles once cover is availableBank Alfa (sending bank) → Nordbank (receiving bank)

    With cover now in place, SIC releases the queued order and settles it finally across the two SNB sight deposit accounts.

    • DR Bank Alfa's sight deposit account at the SNB — CHF 1,200,000.00
    • CR Nordbank's sight deposit account at the SNB — CHF 1,200,000.00
  6. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Not yet paid to the beneficiary; the order is held in SIC's queue until Bank Alfa has cover.
    Settlement
    Settlement waited on cover — the order did not settle until the SNB sight deposit balance was sufficient.
    Who acts next
    Bank Alfa (sending bank) — Bank Alfa manages its intraday liquidity so its SNB sight deposit account can cover outgoing SIC orders.

THE TIMELINE

  1. 01Bank Alfa (sending bank)
    Submits a CHF 1,200,000.00 SIC payment order for real-time gross settlement.
  2. 02SIC / SIX Interbank Clearing
    Verifies the account and finds insufficient cover, so it holds the payment rather than executing it.

    SIC executes a payment only when sufficient cover is available on the settlement account; otherwise it queues.

  3. 03Bank Alfa
    Arranges cover on its SNB sight deposit balance so the queued payment can execute.
  4. 04Swiss National Bank (SNB)
    SIC settles the released payment individually, irrevocably and with finality in central bank money on the SNB sight deposit accounts.

Resolution: The payment is deferred, not lost. Once cover is available, SIC settles it individually and with finality in central bank money.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS

Sources for this scenario2
  1. Official requirement

    Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) ↗ — Swiss National Bank / SIX Interbank Clearing · SIC cover / queue

    Describes the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system, Switzerlands central RTGS payment system (launched 10 June 1987), operated by SIX Interbank Clearing on behalf of the Swiss National Bank: payment orders are executed individually, irrevocably and with finality in central bank money in real time via participants RTGS or instant-payment settlement accounts, provided sufficient cover, settled on sight deposit accounts at the SNB. Instant payments have been available to bank customers since 2024. · Checked 2026-07-14

    SIC settles gross and final in central bank money on SNB sight deposit accounts, and also processes retail payments.

  2. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: Single-cycle teaching model; participant-specific handling and exact timings vary.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.