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In case you missed it in December, the European Payments Council (EPC) and the Cards Stakeholders Group (CSG - a multi-stakeholder body gathering retailers, vendors, processors, card schemes, and the EPC) released version 7.1 of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Cards Standardisation Volume (the Volume)...

Handy, safe, fast… Those are the words that may spring to mind when one thinks about card payments. Today, with more than 47 billion payments in 20141, cards are the most widely used cashless payment method in the European Union. As the search for the perfect holiday gifts now gives way for the sales...

We wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best for the coming New Year! 2016 promises to be an exciting year in the payments industry, with the publication of the first SEPA instant credit transfer scheme rulebook, progress on Person-to-Person mobile payments, and the start of the...

The European Payments Council (EPC) and the Cards Stakeholders Group (CSG), a multi-stakeholder body of which the EPC is part, together with retailers, vendors, processors and card schemes, today published version 7.1 of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Cards Standardisation Volume (the Volume). The...

The Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) met for the fourth time on 26 November 2015. It is a high-level body chaired by the European Central Bank, bringing together the supply and the demand side of the industry to address strategic retail payments issues. Its recommendations are significant for the payment...

Topics of major relevance for the European Payments Council (EPC) were discussed during the fourth meeting of the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB), which took place in late November 2015. The ERPB is a high-level body chaired by the European Central Bank, bringing together the supply and the demand...

26 November 2015 is an important milestone for instant payments in Europe. The European Payments Council (EPC) proposal for the design of a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) instant credit transfer (SCT Inst) scheme was submitted on that day to the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB), and approved. In...

Instant, faster, immediate, real-time payments… These buzzy names all refer to transactions processed in a few seconds, and which are the centre of attention of the payment community around the world, from traditional banks to innovative fintech startups. Being able to execute instant credit transfers...

The 2015 Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Direct Debit (SDD) and Credit Transfer (SCT) Rulebooks, which are the business rules of the EPC schemes, are now in effect. Rulebook versions 8.1 of SDD Core, 6.1 of SDD Business to Business (B2B), and 8.1 of SCT, were published in April 2015, in order...

The SEPA Cards Framework (SCF), first created in 2005 and owned by the European Payments Council (EPC), has been one of the founding industry initiatives that helped to expand the acceptance and coverage of cards in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The work of the banks and schemes, through the...

If you are travelling in the European Union for a festive break or perhaps even further afield in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), you should not experience any problem in the action of paying for your restaurant bill and souvenirs with your domestic credit or debit card. Paying with...

Due to conflicting agendas on 10 December 2015, the European Payments Council (EPC) decided to postpone its workshop on Person-to-Person (P2P) mobile payments. In order to gather as many relevant representatives of the P2P mobile payments industry, it is rescheduled to 21 January 2016. As...

The European Payments Council (EPC) releases today an updated version of its recommendations on customer reporting of Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) credit transfers and direct debits. The provided bank-to-customer (B2C) recommendations allow for the uniform mapping of EPC SEPA scheme rulebook...

The European Payments Council (EPC) releases today a clarification paper on the use of slashes in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) customer-to-bank ISO 20022 payment messages used to initiate credit transfers and direct debits. The SEPA Implementation Guidelines, which will become effective...

A new governance model to further enhance stakeholders’ involvement Let us briefly go back to October 2014, when the European Payments Council (EPC) resolved to adapt its structure to further enhance governance and stakeholders’ involvement. With the main phase of the migration to harmonised Single...

Over the last ten years, the payments industry has become a priority for competition enforcement agencies in the European Union (EU), not only at the level of the European Commission (the Commission), but also of the National Competition Authorities (NCAs), who have conducted numerous investigations....

The Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) is much more than a few articles capping interchange fees for debit and credit cards. The regulators have included a series of ‘business rules’ dealing with a variety of issues. The net effect of the IFR is a redistribution of revenues and costs which will have...

Payments trends ApplePay and the other ‘Pays’ are only the most recent examples of changes to the way people pay and are paid. I spend a lot of time in London, and am struck by how commonplace contactless payments technology now is for low value payment. Whilst the technology has existed for nearly...

Impact of the Regulation on processing Processors provide solutions that are compliant with the supported brands’ scheme rules and that answer their customers’ needs. The Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) has an impact on processing, as it will need to adapt and support the fee models and associated...

Instant payment solutions – the current landscape When looking at the European payments landscape, and focusing on instant payments (or real-time payments), from a perspective of clearing and settlement operators, a few interesting observations can be made.  Payment habits, customer expectations,...

Interoperability. Instant. ISO 20022. Standards. More than catchy buzz words, these are powerful forces shaping the payments industry today, leaving no part of the business immune. Responding to the challenges presented by these forces, the International Payments Framework Association (IPFA) is enhancing...

The Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) was designed to bring together the supply and demand sides of the industry and help foster “the development of an integrated, innovative and competitive market for retail payments in euro in the European Union.” Its work consists mainly of identifying strategic issues...

The October 2015 edition of the European Payments Council (EPC) newsletter is now available. This free quarterly publication examines regulation and market trends shaping the future of payments in Europe and beyond. Instant payments is one of the topics much developed in this issue. Javier...

Update of 12-11-2015: the Person-to-Person mobile payments workshop was initially planned on 10 December 2015. Due to conflicting agendas, the EPC decided to reschedule the workshop to 21 January 2016. The Blog has been updated with the new date. The European Payments Council (EPC) is hosting,...

Update of 12-11-2015: the Person-to-Person mobile payments workshop was initially planned on 10 December 2015. Due to conflicting agendas, the EPC decided to reschedule the workshop to 21 January 2016. This Blog has been updated with the new date. The European Payments Council (EPC) is hosting,...

All scheme participants and stakeholders (technical players, end-users…) can participate in the change management process of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment schemes, by providing their feedback on the last published SEPA Scheme rulebooks (hereafter referred to as 'the rulebooks') of the...

Update of 12-11-2015: the Person-to-Person mobile payments workshop was initially planned on 10 December 2015. Due to conflicting agendas, the EPC decided to reschedule the workshop to 21 January 2016. This News has been updated with the new date. The European Payments Council is hosting on...

From 01 October to 31 December 2015, the European Payments Council (EPC) launches a public consultation on a draft revised version of the Scheme Management Internal Rules (SMIRs). The principles governing the administration and evolution of the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) Schemes...

In line with the European Payments Council’s new governance aimed at further enhancing the involvement of scheme end-users and technical players, the EPC created in 2015 the EPC Scheme End-User Forum (SEUF) and the EPC Scheme Technical Forum (ESTF). These groups met for the first time in September 2015. The...