SEPA migration day has arrived

Authorities hope that Sepa will give a significant economic boost to Europe, enabling businesses to expand into new markets without extra payment costs. Every month more than two billion payments will now flow across the euro area in new standardised formats in what the European Central Bank calls the one of the largest financial integration projects in the world.

Yves Mersch, executive board member, ECB, says: “The successful completion of Sepa further accelerates Europe’s financial integration. It removes barriers to credit transfers and direct debits which will no longer impede businesses or consumers.”

However, the Sepa story is far from over – the ECB has already turned its attentions to the harmonisation of the largest electronic retail payment instrument: cards. Meanwhile, a newly-convened Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) has set up two working groups to explore the role of mobile and ‘innovative’ payments methods.