Congratulations to North Macedonia on joining SEPA – A step closer to European Integration
Congratulations to North Macedonia on joining SEPA – A step closer to European Integration
North Macedonia advanced on its European integration path by joining the geographical scope of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) following the positive decision by the European Payments Council (EPC). This is a practical example of the impact of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, an EU initiative to accelerate the socio-economic integration of the Western Balkans into the EU, including through progressive access to certain areas of the EU single market based on alignment with the EU acquis Communautaire.
As a result of the European Payments Council decision, the payment service providers of North Macedonia will have the possibility to adhere to the various SEPA schemes which are managed by the EPC.
This step paves the way for North Macedonia to facilitate financial transfers in euro and reduce the cost and processing time of these transactions between its citizens, businesses, and other SEPA members. It is therefore contributing to sustained economic growth.
The European Commission will continue to support the preparation of North Macedonia’s payment service providers and the country’s further alignment with the EU acquis in the area of financial services.
Background
The European Payments Council (EPC) is an independent, international not-for-profit association formed of 83 members who are payment service providers (PSPs) or associations of PSPs. The EPC was created in 2002 by the European banking industry to develop European instruments for electronic euro payments. Today, close to 4,000 banks and other payment service providers participate in SEPA schemes.
In close dialogue with the stakeholder community, the EPC has developed, among other things, “schemes,” such as the SEPA Credit Transfer, the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, and the SEPA Direct Debit scheme. These schemes, which facilitated over 50 billion transactions in 36 countries last year, are regularly updated and enhanced by the EPC to help realize easy cross-border euro payments.
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