Just ten years ago, the launched the very first Single Euro Payments Area ( ) payment scheme, for credit transfers. All national euro credit transfer schemes of the countries had to be progressively replaced by the pan-European in order to harmonise credit transfer rules in Europe.
This was the first concrete step of the project, a European Union initiative which the greatly contributed to and continues to support. When the euro was introduced as the common currency for millions of Europeans back in 1999, it was a major advance in European integration. However, cross-border electronic European payments also had to be standardised in order that citizens and businesses received the full benefits of the euro. This is the purpose of : to make it as easy and convenient to pay with the same card and payment account in one’s home country than in the rest of Europe.
Ten years after the launch of the scheme, is truly anchored into our daily payment habits. The journey towards fully standardised European payments is far from over, with new challenges arising from the digitalisation of our society. We hope the next ten years will be as fruitful for as the last ten ones have been.
Ten facts and figures are worth stressing to celebrate ’s achievements (click to enlarge):
If you wish to find out more about ’s major milestones, have a look at our interactive timeline.
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