BRUSSELS – The European Payments Council (EPC) Board approved on Thursday the inclusion of Serbia in the geographical scope of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment schemes.
According to the statement of the EPC, the National Bank of Serbia has taken steps to align its payment systems and regulations with European Union standards.
The geographical scope of the SEPA payment schemes now covers 41 countries. Serbia has joined Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Moldova, which have joined SEPA since November last year.
Gert Jan Koopman, Director General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood, wrote on X that this step represents “our Growth Plan for the Western Balkans in action!”
“This allows banks to begin technical preparations for low-cost, fast transfers to & from the EU”, Koopman wrote.
As a result of the admission of Serbia, all existing EPC payment scheme participants should be able to send or to receive SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) transactions to and from SCT, SCT Inst and SDD scheme participants from Serbia as and when their financial institutions will adhere to these schemes.
The adherence of Serbian financial institutions to the SEPA payment schemes, according to the EPC calendar, will be enabled starting from November 2025. The earliest Operational Readiness Date (ORD) for payment service providers (PSPs) from Serbia is May 2026. The exact ORD will be communicated at a later stage.