1999

1st January – euro currency was officially launched as an electronic / accounting currency, ’old’ currency continued to be used for cash payments

2002

1st January – introduction of euro banknotes and coins in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland and Greece

EPC – European Payments Council was founded and explained it was “the decision-making and coordination body of the European banking industry in relation to payments”

2007

5th December – official publication of the Payment Services Directive (PSD) - the regulatory initiative tasked to standardize payment services within the European Union

2008

28th January – EPC launches the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT)

2009

1st November – Deadline for the implementation of PSD in the euro countries

November – EPC launches the SEPA Direct Debit schemes

2012

31st March ›Regulation No 260/2012 detailing the technical and business requirements for SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Direct Debits was published – also known as the

SEPA Regulation ›The SEPA Regulation mandated that credit transfers and direct debits should be implemented as stated in the requirements by 1st February 2014

1st November – cross border interbank fees for direct debits no longer permitted

2013

1st February ›Member states to indicate their non-compliance penalties ›Member states to identify any payment / direct debit collection

schemes that would be exempt from the SEPA Regulation

2014

9th January – EC announces a 6 month ‘transition period’ - effectively allowing ‘legacy’ payment and direct debit collections to continue until 1st August 2014

1st February ›DEADLINE FOR THE MIGRATION TO SEPA CREDIT TRANSFER & SEPA DIRECT DEBIT ›BIC no longer mandatory for ‘domestic’ SEPA Credit Transfer, unless otherwise stated by member state

2016 2017

1st February ›BIC no longer mandatory for cross border SEPA credit transfers – the so called ‘IBAN only rule’ ›Niche products deadline for the migration to SEPA Credit Transfer / SEPA Direct Debits

31st October – SEPA deadline for euro denominated payments in non-euro area countries

1st February – domestic interbank fees for direct debits will no longer be permitted

Timeline & events as published by SEPA for Corporates in “SEPA Timeline – The Past, Present and Future…”

<THE PAST

the future>

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