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SEPA. Payments Services Legislation. For the single Euro payments area. Find out more here. 

Single Euro Payments Area 

Make electronic payments with the same basic conditions, rights and responsibilities 

 What is SEPA?
  What are the benefits of SEPA?
 SEPA payment instruments
 Payment Services Act

What is SEPA?

The Single Euro Payments Area, known by the initials SEPA, is the area where:

Individuals, Businesses, Public Administration, Other, Economic Agents

Customers can make euro payments within Europe, with the same basic conditions, security, rights and responsibilities governing national payments in each member state. All euro payments will, therefore, be considered “domestic” and the distinction between national and international payments will disappear within the Euro Zone.

The SEPA encompasses 32 countries: the 27 member states of the European Union (*), plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco.

SEPA is now a reality and you can use these financial instruments for your transactions in Spain and the rest of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

(*) For these purposes, the European Union includes the following countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, UK, Czech Republic, Romania and Sweden; and the following independent territories: Martinique, Guadalupe, French Guyana, Reunion Island, Gibraltar the Aland Islands.

What are the benefits of SEPA?

The main benefits of implementing a Single Euro Payments Area are:

  • The possibility of using just one bank account for Euro operations within the SEPA zone.
  • Greater protection for payment service users. New legislation governing payment services regulates execution times, value dates and the availability of funds in a way that favours the payment services user.
  • The use of common standards, making payment execution processes more efficient and competitive.
  • The potential development of innovations in the area of payment instruments, which will provide a launch pad for other value-added services, such as electronic billing and payments using mobile phones or the Internet.
  • Bringing down barriers for the execution of international payments.

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