Brussels, 26/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 24 November, the European Central Bank published its sixth progress report on the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The Governing Council of the ECB welcomed the significant progress made towards a more integrated European payments market, but drew up a list of “ten milestones for SEPA implementation and migration”.
Since the publication of the fifth progress report in July 2007, there have been many new developments, the ECB says. It believes that the first benefits of SEPA have materialised for banks and, more importantly, for the end-users of payment services since the introduction of the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) on 28 January 2008. Also in January 2008, SEPA was started for card payments, but more effort is needed in this area if the goals of the SEPA project are to be achieved, for example the emergence of at least one additional European card scheme. Preparations for the third type of payment instrument, SEPA Direct Debit (SDD), have continued over the past year, resulting in the adoption of the Rulebooks. The launch of the SDD is scheduled for 1 November 2009, but this needs to be accompanied by clarification between the banking sector and the relevant competition authorities with regard to the possible interbank pricing models. The ECB report and main recommendations are available at: http: //http://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/sepa/html/index.en.html (A.B./transl.rt)