In the long term, the European payments landscape will essentially be borderless. Cashless payments such as credit transfers, direct debits and card payments made in and to countries belonging to the SEPA community will be just as simple, quick and cost-effective as domestic payments.

For credit transfers, this has already been a reality since January 28, 2008. Whereas national payment schemes differed considerably before, new technical standards and harmonized formats are now in use, allowing companies and consumers to make euro credit transfers across Europe under the same terms and conditions.

A similar simplification is being realized for direct debit payments through the introduction of the SEPA Core Direct Debit and the SEPA Business-to-Business Direct Debit on November 2, 2009. Besides the capability to replace the current domestic legacy direct debit schemes, the SEPA Direct Debit can also be used for cross-border direct debits. As such, it is a truly new instrument, since cross-border direct debits have not existed before.

During the next few years, existing legacy national payment/collection instruments and SEPA schemes will coexist. The end date for this dual phase at which existing legacy national schemes will be discontinued has not yet been fixed. However, especially companies with operations in several European countries are well-advised to prepare for the SEPA migration in a timely manner.
 
This website provides Corporates and Banks with information pertaining to the emergence, implementation and further developments of SEPA.