SEPA

SEPA is the abbreviation of Single Euro Payments Area and refers to a unified European payment area. Thanks to SEPA, the distinction between the payer’s country and the recipient’s country disappears, because payments between SEPA countries are regarded as ‘domestic payments’. The distinction between domestic and European transactions therefore no longer exists (which has made things cheaper). SEPA only concerns payments in euros, mainly within Europe but also to and from some countries that, like Sweden, are not part of the eurozone or are not even members of the European Union, such as Switzerland, Norway and Monaco). Via this link you will find a list of countries for which the SEPA system is active.

The advantages of SEPA

With the introduction of SEPA, the EU has made payments between European countries easier, among other things through the use of IBAN. Payments between SEPA countries have become much simpler and faster. SEPA thus stimulates international trade: the easier it is to do business abroad, the more often it will happen. SEPA has therefore left its mark on bank transfers, direct debits and even payment via a QR code.

A SEPA payment

Under SEPA, European transfers have all been harmonised. A payment between two international parties no longer differs from a domestic payment (provided both countries are part of the SEPA area). Transfers to countries outside the SEPA area probably use currencies other than the euro. Bank charges then often apply and the transaction may take longer. SEPA uses a specific technical layout for a payment file in XML format. With a SEPA payment file in the online banking environment, users can have several payments executed (or scheduled) at once.

onFact also lets you pay purchases, for example, via such a SEPA file. onFact converts the data entered, such as supplier IBAN, amount and reference, into a payment file. The function even lets you indicate which payment should be executed on which day. This file goes, in XML format according to your own bank’s rules, to your online banking environment to be executed.

A European transfer is also called a SEPA Credit Transfer.

SEPA direct debit

Within SEPA, direct debits are also processed as XML documents. To this end, the payer signs a SEPA mandate that allows the bank to automatically pay the payment orders specified in the mandate (to a specific supplier, for example) from your bank account. Very handy for regularly recurring invoices from a trusted supplier. This technique is known as ‘SEPA Direct Debit’ and is used for both national and international payments within the SEPA zone.

SEPA QR

A SEPA QR code, also known as an EPC (European Payments Council) QR code, is a QR type that executes SEPA transfers. These scannable codes contain all the information needed to execute the payment correctly, such as amount, IBAN, reference, etc. This works by scanning the QR with a mobile phone. Although the code was initiated at European level and is used in various European countries, not all banks can process this code yet. A list of banks that can is available here.