Brussels, 31/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) will come on stream in all eurozone nations on 1 August 2014 and will apply from 30 October 2016 to all euro operations in countries outside the eurozone too. SEPA will make it much easier for ordinary people and companies to make payments in euro and increase competition among banks.
SEPA is an area in which more than 500 million inhabitants, public authorities and more than 20 million companies will be able to make and receive payments in euro under the same basic conditions and with the same rights and obligations, irrespective of location.
The main aim of the SEPA regulation (260/2012) is to migrate from national bank payments and direct debit schemes to a harmonised SEPA system for payments and direct debits by providing individuals with a unique bank identification number for their bank account (IBAN) that can be used for all SEPA payments and direct debts in euro. Under the SEPA regulation, 1 January 2014 was set as the deadline (see EUROPE 11022), but a further six months transition period was granted to enable payment service users which had not already migrated to do so.
SEPA will make electronic payments in the eurozone as easy as cash payments. It will allow fast and secure transfers between bank accounts anywhere in the euro area. And if shopping abroad, payment in euro may be made using a debit card, as in one's home country. A PWC study from this year suggests that the overall gains expected from SEPA will be €21.9 billion a year across the market. (LC)