272 results

What we do

The EPC designs and manages euro payment and payment-related schemes that contribute to the creation of a single payments market in Europe and facilitate economic exchanges in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) for citizens and businesses alike.

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What is a payment scheme?

The payment schemes developed by the EPC are used by thousands of payment service providers (PSPs) in Europe to facilitate some 50 billion transactions each year.

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SEPA Direct Debit Additional Optional Services

The SEPA Direct Debit schemes (SDD) provide the sets of rules that enable a harmonised application by all participating payment service providers (PSPs) in Europe. PSPs can also provide additional services to meet specific customer needs.

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Register of Participants

The Register of Participants lists all payment service providers (PSPs) and other eligible institutions who adhere to the EPC payment and payment related schemes.

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SEPA goals and benefits

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a European Union (EU) payments integration initiative aimed at harmonising electronic euro payments in Europe.

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News

12 March 20

The EPC launches the public consultation on the 2020 change requests for the SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit Scheme Rulebooks

As part of the EPC’s regular change management cycle the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Credit Transfer (SCT), the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), the SEPA Direct Debit Core (SDD Core) and the SDD Business-to-Business (SDD B2B) schemes, and in line with its commitment to stakeholders’ inv

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News

26 November 20

Publication of the 2021 EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks

Today the EPC published the 2021 EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks and the related Implementation guidelines (IGs). All 2021 EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks enter into force on 21 November 2021. To ensure planning security for all market participants, the publication of the new rulebook versions f

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News

30 October 20

The updated version 1.2 of the 2019 EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks

The European Payments Council (EPC) publishes today the updated version 1.2 of the 2019 SEPA payment rulebooks. The version 1.2 has no impact on the business and operational rules compared to the versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the 2019 rulebooks, or on any specification in the related implementation guidel

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Insight

22 June 23

The role of payments in driving positive climate action

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. We continue our series of interviews focusing on sustainability in the payments industry with the contribution of Valerie Nowak, the Chief Product and Innovation Offic

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SEPA for cash

The SEPA project and the EPC’s drive to improve payments harmonisation and innovation in Europe both encourage a shift from cash to electronic payments.

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SEPA goes mobile

Mobile payments are soaring in Europe. The EPC aims to facilitate the use of all SEPA instruments with a mobile while ensuring the convenience, safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness of these payments.

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News

25 May 22

Important updates related to the EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks

Today the European Payments Council (EPC) published the version 1.0 of the 2023 EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks. All 2023 EPC SEPA payment scheme rulebooks enter into force on 19 November 2023. To ensure planning security for all market participants, the publication of the 2023 rulebook versions f

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Insight

14 April 20

AFR – the Hungarian Retail Instant Payment System

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. In order to improve the efficiency of domestic payments, Hungarian banks launched a local currency Instant Payment System (AFR) based on the SEPA Instant Credit Transf

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Insight

31 May 23

A pathway to improve the security of card payment systems

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. The Smart Payment Association (SPA) is the trade body of the cards and mobile payments industry and addresses the challenges of a fast-evolving payment ecosystem, prom

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Insight

19 November 21

Strong corporate appetite for European Request to Pay services

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. We interviewed Thomas Egner, Secretary General, Euro Banking Association (EBA) to know more about the key findings of the Euro Banking Association (EBA)’s recent Reque

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Insight

23 June 21

SWIFT – latest developments in cross border payments

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), one of the largest financial messaging systems in the world’s international payment network is con

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Insight

06 September 21

The investigation phase of the digital euro project is about to start

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. After analysis, experiments and input from citizens and professionals, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to launch the investigation

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