The European Commission has welcomed Moldova's inclusion in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
On March 6, Moldova and North Macedonia advanced on the path of European integration by joining the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) following a positive decision by the European Payments Council (EPC), it said in a statement. It is emphasized that this is a practical example of the impact of the Growth Plan for Moldova and the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, two EU initiatives to accelerate the socio-economic integration of Moldova and the Western Balkans into the EU, including through gradual access to certain areas of the EU single market on the basis of compliance with European legislation. As a result of the European Payments Council decision, payment service providers in the two countries will have the opportunity to join the various SEPA schemes administered by the EPC. The move paves the way for Moldova and North Macedonia to facilitate financial transfers in euros and reduce the cost and processing time of these transactions between their citizens, businesses and other SEPA members. The European Commission said it will continue to support the training of Moldova's and North Macedonia's service providers and the further alignment of the countries with EU financial services legislation. The European Payments Council (EPC) is an independent international non-profit association of 83 members who are payment service providers (PSPs) or PSP associations. The EPC was established in 2002 by the European banking industry to develop European instruments for electronic payments in euros. Today, around 4,000 banks and other payment service providers participate in SEPA schemes. In close dialog with stakeholders, the EPC has developed, among others, “schemes” such as the SEPA Credit Transfer, the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer and the SEPA Direct Debit scheme. These schemes, which enabled more than 50 billion transactions in 36 countries last year, are regularly updated and improved by the EPC to help realize simple cross-border payments in euros. // 06.03.2025 - InfoMarket
