The introduction of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) will give consumers, companies and other actors the possibility of paying and receiving electronic payments in Euro cross border as easy, reliable and efficient as it is currently within each EU country. A successful implementation requires commitment of all involved parties, including users of payment services and supportive public authorities.
The vision for SEPA was formulated in 2002 by the European Banks. The SEPA programme is a self-regulatory initiative by the European Payments Council (EPC) which brings together the European payments industry. The European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are supporting the project. SEPA is now being introduced in the national payment systems and the banks and the new products will be introduced step by step until 2010. At BGC we are reviewing our products to see in what way the can support the new standards.
The project is run by the banking industry. They took up this challenging project by creating the European Payments Council (EPC) in 2002. The EPC has defined the new schemes, frameworks, rules and standards for Euro payments and the following products:
• SEPA Credit Transfers
• SEPA Direct Debit
• SEPA Debit Cards