697 results

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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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 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 Credit Transfer

A credit transfer is an electronic payment from one payment account to another. The SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) scheme makes the transfer of money in Europe easy and convenient.

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Mobile proximity payments

If you have ever tried to pay with your smartphone in a shop, you are familiar with ‘mobile proximity payments’. The smartphone is the device used to access payment details such as card information when executing a face-to-face transaction.

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Insight

26 July 21

Digital payments in Cyprus

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. Although electronic payments are gaining popularity in Cyprus, cash is still king. Nevertheless, there are clear signs that the Cypriot payments landscape is entering

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News

01 July 20

SCT Inst transaction limit increased to 100,000 euros

As of today, the maximum amount per SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) transaction went up from 15,000 to 100,000 euros. Payment end-users can use the SCT Inst scheme in higher-value business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions. This new transaction limit means additional freed

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Insight

28 July 23

Payments in wartime: the story of the National Bank of Ukraine

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Ever since, martial law has made ensuring the country’s economic and financial stability a challenge for the National Bank

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SEPA Direct Debit

The two EPC SEPA Direct Debit schemes offer consumers and businesses a convenient and secure means of paying bills. They are used to facilitate over 20 billion transactions every year in SEPA.

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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

14 April 22

Pix: the rapid development of instant payments in Brazil

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council.   Two years ago, the Brazilian Central Bank decided to launch Pix, an instant payment scheme that the bank developed, manages, operates, and owns. Since its lau

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Insight

14 October 22

Accessibility to retail payments in the EU

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council. The European retail payments landscape has changed due to a multitude of reasons: innovation, regulatory developments, the Covid-19 pandemic and changing consumer hab

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