SEPA system to be completed by October

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) system for payments in euro will be completed by end-October, Romanian Banking Association (ARB) Honorary President Radu Gratian Ghetea said on Wednesday, according to agerpres.ro.

“Romania joined the EU ten years ago, when it was also accepted in the European Payments Council as a full member. Since then, we had more obligations, and one of them concerned the programme of implementation of the SEPA system for euro payments. More specifically, this programme — supposed to be completed at the latest by October 13, 2016 — is in a good phase. In parallel, however, we have also started that unique project in the European Union, SEPA in lei. It is an ambitious project, under which we have set ourselves the goal of using SEPA standards for the operations in lei. This project has been successfully completed a couple of weeks ago,” Ghetea said.

He urged the banks to get organised for the implementation of the instant payments system, a novelty that must be thoroughly considered and regulated.

The ARB hosted on Wednesday the 10th SEPA National Forum, attended by representatives of Romanian Banks.

In Romania, SEPA is coordinated by the ARB, which represents the Romanian banking community in the European Payments Council (EPC). The ARB has assumed the role of governing authority of SEPA RON national payment schemes.