SEPA

The Single Euro Payments Area: an EU initiative that standardises euro-denominated bank transfers so that cross-border payments work like domestic ones.

It defines three main schemes:

• SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT): a euro transfer from one bank account to another.
• SEPA Direct Debit (SDD): a euro debit taken from a payer's account with their authorisation.
• SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst): a euro transfer that settles within seconds.

SEPA covers more than 30 countries, including Switzerland, which participates for euro payments while keeping the Swiss franc outside the scheme.