Single Euro Payments Area


The Single Euro Payments Area is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro., there were 36 members in SEPA, consisting of the 27 member states of the European Union, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association, and the United Kingdom. Some countries participate in the technical schemes: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City.

Goals

The aim of SEPA is to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments and turn the previously fragmented national markets for euro payments into a single domestic one. SEPA enables customers to make cashless euro payments to any account located anywhere in the area, using a single bank account and a single set of payment instruments. People who have a bank account in a eurozone country can use it to receive salaries and make payments all over the eurozone, for example when they take a job in a new country.
The project includes the development of common financial instruments, standards, procedures, and infrastructure to enable economies of scale. This should, in turn, reduce the overall cost to the European economy of moving capital around the region.
SEPA does not cover payments in currencies other than the euro. This means that domestic payments in SEPA countries not using the euro will continue to use local schemes, but cross border payments will to a high degree use SEPA and euro against eurozone countries.
The Nordic countries which do not plan to adopt the euro, have in 2017-2019 started initiatives to get simpler, faster and cheaper cross-border payments between each other.

Overview

There were two milestones in the establishment of SEPA:
For direct debits, the first milestone was missed due to a delay in the implementation of enabling legislation in the European Parliament. Direct debits became available in November 2009, which put time pressure on the second milestone.
The European Commission has established the legal foundation through the PSD. The commercial and technical frameworks for payment instruments were developed by the European Payments Council, made up of European banks. The EPC is committed to delivering three pan-European payment instruments:
To provide end-to-end straight-through processing for SEPA-clearing, the EPC committed to delivering technical validation subsets of ISO 20022. Whereas bank-to-bank messages are mandatory for use, customer-to-bank payment initialization message types are not; however, they are strongly recommended. Because there is room for interpretation, it is expected that several PAIN specifications will be published in SEPA countries.
Businesses, merchants, consumers and governments are also interested in the development of SEPA. The European Associations of Corporate Treasurers, TWIST, the European Central Bank, the European Commission, the European Payments Council, the European Automated Clearing House Association, payments processors and pan-European banking associations – European Banking Federation, European Association of Co-operative Banks and the European Savings Banks Group – are playing an active role in defining the services which SEPA will deliver.
Since January 2008, banks have been switching customers to the new payment instruments. By 2010, the majority were expected to be on the SEPA framework. As a result, banks throughout the SEPA area need to invest in technology with the capacity to support SEPA payment instruments.
SEPA clearance is based on the International Bank Account Numbers. Domestic euro transactions are routed by IBAN; earlier national-designation schemes were abolished by February 2014, providing uniform access to the new payment instruments. Since February 2016 Eurozone payment system users no longer require BIC sorting information for SEPA transactions; it is automatically derived from the IBAN for all banks in the SEPA area.
An instant 24/7/365 payment scheme named SCT Inst went live on 21 November 2017 allowing instant payment 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
The participating banks will handle the user interface and security, like for existing SEPA payments, e.g. web sites and mobile apps.
SEPA covers predominantly normal bank transfers. Payment methods which have additional optional features or services, such as mobile phone or smart card payment systems, are not directly covered. However, the instant SEPA payment scheme facilitates payment products also on smart devices.

Schemes

The different functionalities provided for by SEPA are divided into separate payment schemes, detailed below.

SEPA Credit Transfer

SEPA Credit Transfer allows for the transfer of funds from one bank account to another. SEPA clearing rules require that payments made before the cutoff point on a working day, be credited to the recipients account by the next working day.

SEPA Instant Credit Transfer

SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, also called SEPA Instant Payment, provides for instant crediting of a payee, the delay being less than ten seconds, initially, with a maximum of twenty seconds in exceptional circumstances.
This scheme was launched in November 2017, and was at that time operational for end customers in eight euro zone countries, and is expected soon to be available in most euro zone countries and potentially in all SEPA countries.

SEPA Direct Debit

functionality is provided by two separate schemes.
The basic scheme, Core SDD, is primarily targeted at consumers and was launched on 2 November 2009. Banks offering SEPA payments are obliged to participate in this scheme.
A second scheme, B2B SDD, is targeted towards business users. Among the differences with respect to Core SDD:
Banks offering SEPA payments are not obliged to participate in this scheme.

Coverage

SEPA consists of 36 countries:
All parts of a country are normally part of SEPA. However, the following countries have special territories which are not part of SEPA:
Jurisdictions using the euro that are not in SEPA: Akrotiri and Dhekelia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Kosovo, and Montenegro.

Charges

SEPA guarantees that euro payments are received within a guaranteed time, and banks are not allowed to make any deductions of the amount transferred, introduced by a regulation in 2001. Banks and payment institutions still have the option of charging a credit-transfer fee of their choice for euro transfers if it is charged uniformly to all EEA participants, banks or payment institutions, domestic or foreign. This is relevant for countries which do not use the euro; domestic transfers in euros by consumers are uncommon, and inflated fees might be charged. Sweden and Denmark have legislated that euro transfers shall be charged the same as transfers in their own currency; which has the effect of giving free euro ATM withdrawals, but charges for ATM withdrawals in other currencies used in the EU.
In regulation 924/2009, the European Parliament mandated that charges in respect of cross-border payments in euros between EU member states shall be the same as the charges for corresponding payments within the member state. However, the EU Regulation does not apply to all SEPA countries; the most significant difference is the inclusion of Switzerland in SEPA but not the EU. The rule of the same price applies even if the transaction is sent as an international transaction instead of a SEPA transaction. Regulation 924/2009 does not regulate charges for currency conversion so charges for non-euro transactions can still be applied.

Key dates

1957Treaty of Rome creates the European Community.
1992Maastricht Treaty creates the euro.
1999Introduction of the euro as an electronic currency, including introduction of the RTGS system TARGET for large-value transfers.
2000Lisbon Strategy: Meeting creates European Financial Services Action Plan.
2001EC Regulation 2560/2001 harmonises fees for cross-border and domestic euro transactions.
2002Introduction of Euro banknotes and coins.
2003First Pan-European Automated Clearing House goes live; EC Regulation 2560/2001 comes into force for transactions up to €12,500.
2006EC Regulation 2560/2001 increases ceiling on same-price euro transactions to €50,000.
2008SEPA pan-European payment instruments become operational on 28 January
2009Payment Services Directive enacted in national laws by November.
2010SEPA payments become dominant form of electronic payments.
2011SEPA payments replace national payments in the Eurozone.
20141 August: Single Euro Payments Area becomes fully operational in all Eurozone countries.
2016Since 31 October 2016, payment service providers in non-euro countries are only able to collect euro-denominated payments using SEPA procedures. Non-euro schemes, such as the UK's Direct Debit, continue without change.
2017Since 21 November 2017, instant SEPA payments of up to 15,000 euros within 10 seconds become available.
2019On 1 March 2019 Andorra and Vatican City join SEPA.

Uptake

As of August 2014, 99.4% of credit transfers, 99.9% of direct debit, and 79.2% of card payments have been migrated to SEPA in the euro area.
The official progress report was published in March 2013.
In October 2010, the European Central Bank published its seventh progress report on SEPA. The European Central Bank regards SEPA as an essential element to advance the usability and maturity of the euro.