The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) project seeks to transform payment services in Europe. Until the advent of the Euro, each of the countries of Europe had separate payment systems and separate currencies. Irish payment systems were predominantly debit transactions (cheques, direct debits, cards) whereas in Europe, Credit transactions predominate. From 2002, euro banknotes brought standardisation of cash throughout the Eurozone, and EU legislation facilitated ease of withdrawal of ATM cash within the Eurozone. When SEPA is completed:
- Citizens and businesses will be able to make cross-border payments throughout the Eurozone more easily and less expensively.
- To facilitate this, harmonised European legislation on payments has been introduced in all countries
- Payment systems within Ireland will be changed to conform with European standards. Businesses and banks will require to change systems and procedures. IBAN & BIC will be used where account numbers are currently used.
SEPA is a project managed by the European Payments Council on behalf of European banks. In Ireland, SEPA is managed by IPSO on behalf of Irish banks. In parallel with SEPA, the Irish National Payments Implementation Plan will seek to reduce the usage of paper transactions (Cheques, etc.).
SEPA's impact on you
The first stage of SEPA went live in January 2008. Since that date, SEPA credit transfers can be used for euro-denominated transfers within Europe, and Irish-issued cards are more widely accepted across Europe.
New legislation, and SEPA direct debits are scheduled for 2009. A completion date has not been set for the SEPA project, but by 2011, a critical mass of Irish payment transactions should have changed over to SEPA instruments.
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07 December 2010The EU Commission published a draft regulation to set the date for migration of national schemes of credit transfer and direct debit to SEPA schemes.
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10 July 2009The Payment Services Directive (PSD) which provides legal support for many elements of SEPA is making progress across the EU and is intended to enter into force in all SEPA countries by November 09.
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10 July 2009The Department of Finance has yesterday (8th July) issued a consultation paper on the transposition of the Payment Services Directive.
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05 May 2009In a document issued April 6th, the European Payments Council (EPC) attempts to clear up certain “misunderstandings” regarding SEPA. The...
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01 April 2009Few people could doubt the fact that ECB supports SEPA. Nevertheless, ECB felt obliged to issue a new document on it’s expectations for SEPA....
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01 April 2009SEPA was on the February agenda for ECOFIN, the EU council of finance ministers. In their annual review of SEPA, they stated that “SEPA remains...
