What is SEPA?
The creation of a Single Euro Payments Area is part of the development and implementation of the single European market in the European Union (EU). SEPA marks another milestone in the development which started in 1957 with the Treaties of Rome for the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) and was continued in 1992 with the Maastricht Treaty establishing the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
In 2002 the European Commission started an initiative with the aim of developing the eurozone into a single payments market. This standardisation of the payments market should make the member economies more efficient through more transparent payments processes.
The European credit institutions responded to this political initiative by setting up an independent committee, the European Payments Council (EPC).
SEPA means: uniform payments products all over Europe - credit transfers, direct debits, debit cards - and that payments in euro are made to given rulebooks and handled in line with clearly defined data models.
There will be no more country-specific differences in European cross-border payments.