SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is the area in which people, companies and public bodies make and receive euro credit transfers, instant payments and direct debits under the same rules, whether domestic or cross-border. It covers the EU, the European Economic Area and several other European countries, and rests on European Payments Council schemes and the SEPA Regulation.
ISO 20022ISO 20022 is the international standard for financial messages, built from a common business dictionary and usually expressed in XML. Payment messages are grouped as pain (customer to bank), pacs (bank to bank) and camt (cash management, such as statements). It is the format of SEPA, T2, CHAPS and Swift cross-border payments.
IBAN (International Bank Account Number)The IBAN is the international standard identifier of a bank account, defined in ISO 13616. It has up to 34 characters: a two-letter country code, two check digits and the national account number (BBAN), for example 22 characters in Germany and 27 in France. In SEPA the IBAN alone is enough to make a payment.
Instant Payments Regulation (IPR)The Instant Payments Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/886, requires payment service providers that offer euro credit transfers to also offer instant ones, at no higher price, with verification of payee and daily sanctions screening of customers. Euro area banks had to receive instant payments from January 2025 and send them from October 2025.