Since the introduction of euro banknotes and coins on 1 January 2002, cash payments are carried out using the single currency across the euro area with the same ease and convenience. 

Thereafter, the creation of a single payments area for cashless payment instruments remained a big challenge. This would enable consumers and enterprises to execute payments with the use of other payment instruments. 

In this context, the development and implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area - SEPA project commenced.

SEPA is an area where consumers, enterprises and public entities can make and receive domestic and cross-border electronic payments in euro under the same basic conditions and with the same rights and obligations. 

SEPA has created an integrated, competitive and innovative retail payments market where all cashless euro payments are conducted via a single payment account and a single set of payment instruments in a fast, safe and efficient manner. 

SEPA covers 36 countries and territories: the 27 EU Member States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Andorra and the Vatican.

The SEPA development framework

SEPA is fully supported by the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the Eurosystem, and is being developed on the initiative of the banking industry.

SEPA is fully supported by the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the Eurosystem, and is being developed on the initiative of the banking industry. 

Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro and amending Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 (hereinafter “Regulation (EU) No 260/2012”) established, among other things, the following end-dates for migration to the SEPA EU-wide payment schemes: 

  • 1 February 2014 for credit transfers and direct debits in the euro area (31 October 2016 in non-euro area countries);  
  • 1 February 2016 for any derogations or waivers provided for in the Regulation. 

Regulation (EU) No 248/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 amending Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 as regards the migration to Union-wide credit transfers and direct debits extended the migration deadline to 1 August 2014.  

Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 specifies that all payment accounts held by payment service providers (PSPs) which are reachable for national credit transfers and direct debits shall also be reachable via EU-wide payment  schemes for cross-border credit transfers and direct debits.

It also establishes uniform technical requirements on PSPs and the retail payment systems involved, across all SEPA countries. Reachability of accounts and interoperability of PSPs and retail payment systems form the foundation for payments within SEPA. 

Payments Service Providers within SEPA

The following are regarded as Payments Service Providers within SEPA:

The following are regarded as Payments Service Providers within SEPA: 

  • credit institutions; 
  • electronic money institutions; 
  • post office giro institutions which are entitled under national law to provide payment services; 
  • payment institutions;
  • the European Central Bank and national central banks when not acting in their capacity as monetary authority or other public authorities, and
  • the Greek State and the other EU Member States, or their regional or local authorities when not acting in their capacity as public authorities.

SEPA payment schemes

The European banking community has set up the European Payments Council (EPC), which is responsible for the management and development of payment schemes. The SEPA payment schemes are the following:

The European banking community has set up the European Payments Council (EPC), which is responsible for the management and development of payment schemes. The SEPA payment schemes are the following: 

  • SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT)
  • SEPA Instant Credit transfer (SCTInst) 
  • SEPA Core Direct Debit (SDD Core)
  • SEPA Business to Business Direct Debit (SDD B2B). 

A credit transfer is a national or cross-border payment service for crediting a payee’s payment account with a payment transaction or a series of payment transactions from a payer’s payment account by the PSP which holds the payer’s payment account, based on an instruction given by the payer.  

SCT

  • The SCT scheme defines a common set of rules and procedures for credit transfers denominated in euro.
  • Its main features are the following: 
  • The maximum amount per SCT instruction is €999,999,999.99. 
  • The full instructed amount is transferred from the payer’s payment account to the payee’s payment account.
  • The payer and the payee are each subject to the fees charged by their respective PSPs. 
  • ΙΒΑΝs are used as payment account identifiers.
  • Single and bulk SCT instructions are supported, whether one-off or recurring.
  • The maximum settlement time shall not exceed one business day.
  • There is a comprehensive set of rules for the rejection and refund of payments.
  • 140-character remittance information data field on a structured or unstructured (free text) basis.
  • Full reachability of all payees’ accounts within SEPA.
  • The SCT scheme is completely separated from the clearing and settlement infrastructure. 

SCTInst

The SCTInst scheme became operational on 21 November 2017. Its main features are the following:

  • The maximum amount per SCTInst transaction is €100,000. 
  • SCTInst instruments are available on a 24/7/365 basis.
  • The full instructed amount is transferred from the payer’s payment account to the payee’s payment account.
  • A target maximum execution time of 10 seconds to process a SCTInst transaction, with the payee’s bank reporting back to the payer’s bank the availability of the funds to the payee or the rejection of the transaction.
  • The payer and the payee are each subject to the fees charged by their respective PSPs. 
  • ΙΒΑΝs are used as payment account identifiers.
  • There is a comprehensive set of rules for rejected payments.
  • 140-character remittance information data field on a structured or unstructured (free text) basis.
  • Full reachability of all payees’ accounts within SEPA.
  • The SCTInst scheme is completely separated from the clearing and settlement infrastructure. 

SDD Core and SDD B2B

A direct debit is a national or cross-border payment service for debiting a payer’s payment account, where a payment transaction is initiated by the payee with the payer’s consent.

The payer typically signs and sends to the payee a pre-authorisation (“mandate”), either in paper or electronic format, that authorises the payee to collect the funds directly from the payer’s payment account.

The SDD Core scheme is suited for consumers and is often used for recurring payments, such as utility bills.

The SDD B2B scheme is offered exclusively to businesses and is mostly used for the automatic collection of invoices. Under both schemes, the payee must keep a record of all mandates received.

The SDD Core and SDD B2B schemes establish a common set of rules and procedures for direct debits denominated in euro.

Their main features are the following: 

  • The maximum amount per SDD order is €999,999,999.99.
  • The full instructed amount is transferred from the payer’s payment account to the payee’s payment account.
  • The payer and the payee are each subject to the fees charged by their respective PSPs.
  • ΙΒΑΝs are used as payment account identifiers.
  • Full reachability of all payers’ accounts within SEPA.
  • There is a comprehensive set of rules for the rejection and refund of payments.
  • Under the SDD Core scheme, an unconditional refund right on a no-questions-asked basis is granted to payers within eight weeks following the debiting date for authorised transactions and within 13 months for unauthorised transactions.

According to Regulation (ΕU) 260/2012, PSPs offering euro credit transfer and direct debit services must adhere to the SCT and SDD Core schemes and be entered in the EPC’s respective Register of Participants. Adherence to the SCTInst and SDD B2B schemes remains voluntary. 

SEPA Fees

A «payment instrument» is defined as any personalised device(s) and/or set of procedures agreed between the payment service user (PSU) and the payment service provider (PSP), which the PSU uses for initiating a payment order.

A «payment instrument» is defined as any personalised device(s) and/or set of procedures agreed between the payment service user (PSU) and the payment service provider (PSP), which the PSU uses for initiating a payment order.  

PSPs that participate in SEPA payment schemes are able to provide their customers with payment instruments that comply with the specifications and rules of the respective schemes.

SEPA payment schemes clearly stipulate that the payer and the payee are each charged fees separately by their respective PSP. 

These fees may vary among PSPs, according to each PSP’s business plan and pricing policy, also taking into account the capacity of the user (consumer or business), the number of payment orders and the initiation channel of the payment order (e.g. physical branch, internet or mobile).

However, the charges levied by a PSP on a PSU in respect of cross-border payments are the same as the charges levied by that PSP on a PSU for corresponding national payments of the same value and in the same currency. This is provided for by Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on cross-border payments in the Community and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 (as amended by Regulation (ΕU) 260/2012).

SEPA card payments

Cardholders (merchants) will be able to make and receive card payments throughout SEPA in a common and consistent manner.

Cardholders (merchants) will be able to make and receive card payments throughout SEPA in a common and consistent manner. In this direction, the European Cards Stakeholders Group (ECSG), has developed and maintained the SEPA Cards Standardisation Volume – Book of Requirements as a standard set of requirements to ensure a secure, interoperable and scalable card and terminal infrastructure across SEPA.

As of 1 January 2011, SEPA cards support EMV-chip technology.

The Eurosystem envisions the integration of the card payments market, following up on the integration of credit transfers and direct debits. In contrast with credit transfers and direct debits, card payments still lack the same degree of market integration and harmonisation of business practices and rules, as well as technical standards. Therefore, the Eurosystem’s policy is geared towards the creation of a SEPA for cards, in which payments denominated in euro will be executed with “every card in every terminal”.

In this direction, the Eurosystem has decided to undertake and promote a number of actions. Firstly, it is important to develop systems that support interlinking and interoperability of the existing national card schemes. This way, European consumers will not be entirely reliant on international card schemes for their payments, while there will be significant gains in terms of competition, costs, efficiency and governance. The use of the newly installed instant payments infrastructure could be a way to support the interlinking and interoperability of national card schemes and, if full pan-European coverage is ensured, would provide a possible alternative to establishing a European card scheme. Secondly, the adoption of innovative technologies will boost the range of choices for consumers and increase the security of the transactions.

Standards

In the SEPA environment, international standards are required to ensure full automation of the payment process. This is referred to as “straight-through processing” (STP), which means that no manual intervention is needed. 

In the SEPA environment, international standards are required to ensure full automation of the payment process. This is referred to as “straight-through processing” (STP), which means that no manual intervention is needed. 

IBAN

The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is the payment account identifier in SEPA, and is created according to the international standard ISO 13616. In order for a SEPA payment to be effected, the payer must provide his/her PSP with the payee’s ΙΒΑΝ. Even for payments between accounts held within the same PSP, the ΙΒΑΝ is exclusively used.

In Greece, the ΙΒΑΝ is composed of 27 alphanumerical characters, with the following structure:

GR 11 ΠΥΠ 1234 0000001234567890, where:

  • GR, the country code (two capital letters);
  • 11, the check digits (two digits);
  • ΠΥΠ, the PSP code (three digits);
  • 1234, the branch code (four digits); and
  • 0000001234567890, the customer's account number (16 digits - when the account is composed of less than 16 digits, leading zeros are added).

Special applications for checking the validity of an IBAN or for converting a simple payment account number into IBAN are available by the Hellenic Bank Association.

BIC

The PSPs in SEPA are identified by their Business Identifier Code (BIC), which is calculated according to the international standard ISO 9362. The Bank of Greece’s BIC is BNGRGRAA.

No more BIC, only IBAN

Under Regulation (EU) 260/2012, as of 1 February 2016 PSUs are no longer required to indicate the BIC of the payee’s PSP for payment transactions in the form of credit transfers or direct debits. As of February 1 2016, PSUs disclose to their payments service provider only the IBAN of the payee.

It should be noted that PSPs are still required to use the BIC when processing interbank payment transactions.

For this reason, and for the information of every interested party, the following table lists the BICs of PSPs operating in Greece along with the corresponding Bank Identifiers (positions 5-7 of a Greek IBAN).

ISO 20022 XML

The international standard ISO20022 XML provides the format to be used for preparing and transmitting all messages that contain SEPA payment information. It is used:

  • between PSPs or PSPs and retail payment system; and
  • by PSUs other than consumers or micro enterprises when they initiate or receive batches of credit transfers or direct debits which are not transmitted individually, but are bundled together for transmission, to and from PSPs. 

SEPA in Greece today

The Greek banking community has set up the appropriate organisational structure to ensure a timely and smooth migration to SEPA.

The Greek banking community has set up the appropriate organisational structure to ensure a timely and smooth migration to SEPA. Unlike other countries, Greece has not established a central body to coordinate migration to SEPA at the national level. Instead, it has opted for a decentralised organisational model, entailing on-going bilateral contacts between stakeholders, which has actually proved very efficient and swift.

Article 30 of Law 4141/2013 ”Measures for implementing Regulation (EC) 924/2009 and Regulation (EU) 260/2012” provides as follows: 

  • The Bank of Greece is the competent authority for ensuring compliance with Articles 3, 4, 5 and 9 of Regulation (EU) 260/2012. 
  • The General Secretariat for Consumers of the Greek Ministry of Development and Investment is the competent authority for managing complaints under Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation (EU) 260/2012 and imposing the relevant sanctions.
  • Regarding any out-of-court settlement of disputes arising between PSUs and PSPs concerning their rights and obligations under Regulation (EU) 260/2012, the competent bodies are the Hellenic Consumers’ Ombudsman, the Hellenic Financial Ombudsman and the Amicable Settlement Committees referred to in Article 11 of Law 2251/1994.

 Content Editor

​Payment of taxes and duties by citizens of  SEPA countries

Citizens of SEPA countries can pay taxes and duties via SEPA Credit Transfer. The relevant instructions are provided by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue and the Taxpayers’ Service Centre.

This website uses cookies for the optimization of your user experience. Learn More
I Accept