That's not quite right. An automated clearing house for transactions isn't a US-specific concept, it's used all over the world (sometimes called an ACH, sometimes under a different name).

SEPA uses STEP2 as the pan-European clearing house. Each European country also has their own equivalent to the ACH.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_clearing_house, Germany's seems to be a service offered by the Bundesbank.