Publications

PayPal, a global fintech leader with more than 430 million active accounts worldwide, has joined the European Payments Council (EPC) to help shape the future of payments in Europe. With its strong focus on innovation, trust, and seamless digital experiences, PayPal brings deep expertise in areas suc

In this interview, Alberto Molpeceres and Fernando Cabello-Astolfi, founders of Devengo, share how their API-first, regulated payment institution is advancing instant account-to-account (A2A) payments across Europe. They discuss the opportunities created by real-time infrastructure, evolving regulat

The Routing and/or Verification Mechanism Multi-Stakeholder Group (RVM MSG) met on 7 May 2026 to review the latest developments of the Verification of Payee (VOP) scheme and ongoing work towards VOP 2.0.The group noted the continued growth of the scheme, with VOP reaching close to one billion reques

The EPC has published a new resource on the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) scheme to clarify information in the current version 4 of the SEPA Request-to-Pay scheme rulebook.With this additional clarification, the EPC aims to avoid a fragmented approach in the way the SRTP scheme rulebook is implementedT

Stablecoins are increasingly moving from experimentation to practical consideration within the banking industry. In this interview, Dirk Hermans, Innovation Manager at KBC Bank, shares insights on how banks are approaching stablecoins - not as a disruptive force, but as part of a broader evolution i

The European Payments Council (EPC) has published the minutes of the kick‑off meeting of the Routing and/or Verification Mechanisms Multi‑Stakeholder Group (RVM MSG), marking the formal start of this new EPC multi‑stakeholder forum.The meeting took place online on Wednesday 15 April 2026 and brought

Following the successful completion of the ART (API Reference Toolbox) v1.1 pilot phase, the EPC is pleased to announce that the platform will now be officially available to all participants as of 7 May 2026 to support the rollout of VOP v1.1.ART v1.1 is now open for all participants to:Execute and

The European Payments Council (EPC) is making available some guidelines to support the optional exchange of data sets under the Verification Of Payee (VOP) scheme similar to an inquiry process. The guidelines aim to support a rapid, transparent and structured handling of issues between VOP sche

 The European Payments Council (EPC) has announced a change in Chairpersonship of its Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) following the completion of Chairperson Barbara Hadfield’s mandate on 31 March 2026. From 1 April 2026 and continuing for three years the leadership of the DRC will be t

The EPC has initiated a public consultation on change requests for its VOP rulebook version 2.0 which runs from 1 April – 30 June 2026.This public consultation is part of the change management process of the EPC payment-related schemes regularly organised by the EPC.About the VOP scheme rulebookThe

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council.As stablecoins move from the margins of crypto markets into the mainstream of global finance, Europe faces a pivotal moment. Their growth raises pressing questions about m

The European Payments Council (EPC) has released a video explaining the One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) scheme and its role in improving international payments.The video illustrates how the OCT Inst scheme enables Payment Service Providers (PSPs) in Europe to offer faster, transparent

The EPC has published guidelines outlining the recommended approach to increasing adoption of the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) scheme.This ‘Federated Approach’ aims to lay the foundation for a future-proof solution and promote a smooth and progressive transition for intra-community initiatives to the

Today the European Payment Council (EPC) issued its yearly update of the Guidelines on cryptographic algorithms usage and key management which provides guidance to the European payments industry in the field of cryptographic algorithms, security protocols, confidentiality and integrity protection an

Today, the European Payments Council (EPC) launched three key updates linked to the Verification Of Payee (VOP) scheme rulebook, Application Programming Interface (API) specifications, and API Security Framework which will become effective on 20 September 2026.The VOP scheme provides a set of inter-

Today, the European Payments Council (EPC) initiated a public consultation on change requests for all five EPC payment scheme rulebooks (SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SCT Instant (SCT Inst), SEPA Direct Debit (SDD), SDD Business-to-Business (SDD B2B) and One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst))

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council.We spoke with author and digital financial services advisor and commentator David Birch about the role of stablecoins in Europe’s financial landscape. From their impact on

The European Payments Council (EPC) has launched a public consultation to explore the possible role of the EPC in the interoperability of payment solutions based on the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme at the Point Of Interaction (POI). This consultation runs from 6 March to 10 April 2

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council.We spoke with Lillie Wall, Head of Payments, Europe at Wise, about the company’s role in shaping modern cross-border payments and the evolving European payments landscape.