Objectives

For so long as barriers to the free movement of funds within the Eurozone exist, the countries involved are unable to fully exploit the full benefits of Monetary Union

• Efficiency - SEPA is an element of the Lisbon agenda, agreed in March 2000. The Lisbon agenda is a 10-year development plan intended to deal with economic stagnation and low productivity. The overall plan deals, inter alia, with creating the conditions for efficient operation of the economy as a whole, and creating such conditions for businesses, especially SMEs
• Competitiveness - SEPA is intended to create entirely new levels of competitiveness among banks - especially for business users, but also trickling down to consumers:
  • Opening up markets
  • Creating level playing fields
• Elimination of national barriers - National financial borders within the Eurozone area undermine the credibility of the currency, delay financial transactions and create complexity.
• Increased market Transparency - through a harmonised set of rules on information requirements.
• Standardised rights and obligations - for both providers and users of payment services.
• Maturity of the currency – a currency is considered to be less than mature if barriers to free movement across the territory exist.