Since the introduction of the euro in 1999 and euro banknotes and coins in 2002, the majority of citizens of the European Union (EU) have a single currency at their disposal. Yet the markets for retail payments have traditionally retained strong national characteristics. The reasons for these differing structures are mainly historical, as each payment system in individual countries has developed independently over the past few decades. Up to now, Europe has also maintained considerable differences in legal frameworks, payment/collection instruments and schemes, infrastructures and standards as well as efficiency and product diversity.

In an attempt to remove local barriers and increase cross-border trade, the European Banking industry announced in 2002 its intention to create a Single Euro Payments Area. With SEPA already started, the euro payments/collections landscape will undergo a radical transformation during its full migration to SEPA in the next few years.

The groundwork for SEPA has already been laid

Substantial progress on the way to SEPA has already been made, most notably the business rules for SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Direct Debits.

The following documents have been agreed and published by the European Payments Council and are regarded as the main building blocks of SEPA:

• The rulebook for the SEPA Credit Transfer
• The rulebook for the SEPA Direct Debit
• The rulebook for the SEPA Business-to-Business Direct Debit
• Implementation guides for each
• The PE-ACH/CSM Framework, dealing with principles for the inter-bank clearing and settlement of SEPA payments
• The SEPA Cards Framework

These documents can be found on the EPC website [link]. 

This progress already allowed for the official start of the SEPA Credit Transfer in January 2008 and the SEPA Direct Debit in November 2009.