Following the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins in
the countries of the euro zone in 2002, the creation of a single
payments area for the non-cash payment instruments remained a big
challenge. In this context, the European banking community
established the European Payments Council and so the
"Single Euro Payments Area" project was launched.
What is SEPA
SEPA is an area in which consumers, companies and other economic
actors will be able to make and receive payments in euro, whether
between or within national boundaries under the same basic
conditions, rights and obligations, regardless of their location.
SEPA aims to create an integrated, competitive and innovative euro
area retail payments market, where non-cash euro payments can be
effected using as single bank account and a single set of payment
instruments.
For more information see The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
ECB brochure.
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SEPA Stakeholders
SEPA has the full support of the European Commission and the
Eurosystem and is being developed on the initiative of the
banking sector. Banks focus on the development of SEPA payment
instuments (credit transfers, direct debits, credit/debit cards)
that will replace the correspondent national payment instruments.
Besides banks, SEPA implementation involves clearing systems,
companies, consumers, public authorities and the public administration.
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Migration Plan
The greek banking community acknowleges the need to migrate to
SEPA and for this purpose it has set up the appropriate
organisational structure.
Organisation
A SEPA Forum has been established with the objective of
monitoring SEPA progress. The SEPA Forum is chaired by the
Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece and participation within
consists of the Hellenic Bank Association, DIAS S.A., a company
that manages and operates a retail payment system, the Ministry
of Economy and Finance, the Union of Hellenic Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Greek Industries, the
Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, public utility
companies and consumers' associations. The Hellenic Bank
Association is responsible for the design and implementation of
SEPA, through specialised working groups and the Executive
Committee, which represents the decision-making body for banks.
Timeplan
The timeplan consists of three phases: a) the design phase,
which started in 2004 and is almost complete, b) the
implementation phase, which started in mid 2006 and is expected
to conclude by the end of 2007 and c) the migration phase
starting from 2008; it is expected that a criticall mass of
transactions will have migrated to SEPA by the end of 2010. More
specifically, banks currently are developing the SEPA products,
which they will offer to the public from 1.1.2008 onwards. The preparations and planning of the Greek banking community for the migration to SEPA are presented in the document SEPA Implementation and Migration in Greece, issued by the Hellenic Bank Association
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Regulatory framework
The Directive 2007/64/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council on payment services
in the internal market, establishes a harmonised legal
framework for payment services at Community level.
The Regulation
(EC) No 2560/2001 on cross-border payments in euro which
defines that the fees charged on domestic and cross-border
payments up to €50.000 shoud be the same.
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Standards
SEPA requires the use of common pan-european standards and
business practices for the fully automated and efficient
processing of payment instruments. Indicatively, the following
standards shall be used in SEPA payments:
The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) which is used to define the bank and the account number of a beneficiary. In SEPA, the use of IBAN is a prerequisite for the automated processing of payment orders.
More information on IBAN
can be found at the website of Hellenic Bank Association (in Greek).
Bank Identifier Code (BIC) is the unique identification code of a specific bank
and/or bank branch, registered by the provider of electronic messaging services
SWIFT.
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Publications / Speeches
ECB: SEPA - From concept to Reality (5th Progress Report)
ECB: Towards a single euro payments area - fourth progress report: An integrated retail payments market
ECB: The Eurosystem's view of a SEPA for cards
ECB: Single Euro Payments Area - Joint Statement from the European Commission and the European Central Bank
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Events
Single Euro Payments Area, Hellenic Banking Institute
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Links
Hellenic Bank Association
DIAS S.A.
European Central Bank
European Commission
European Payments Council
SWIFT
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)
European Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS)
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