The main advantage will be improved speed and more favorable conditions for sending and receiving money, including remittances. Instead of taking several days, as was often the case due to the involvement of multiple intermediary banks, transactions will now typically be completed within one business day.
For companies in Serbia, this means easier payments to suppliers and faster receipt of funds from clients within the SEPA area, which can contribute to reduced operating costs.
For citizens, it will allow quicker and cheaper transfers in euros, including sending and receiving money to and from family members abroad.
The National Bank of Serbia emphasizes that neither citizens nor businesses will have any additional obligations compared to the previous way of conducting euro transactions, except for the need to use a correct IBAN for the recipient.
What does this look like in practice?
If a standard SEPA transfer is used, money sent on Monday will arrive on Tuesday. However, if an instant transfer is used, funds can arrive almost immediately, within seconds or minutes.
Another key benefit is lower transaction costs, allowing both senders and recipients to save money.
For citizens, it will allow quicker and cheaper transfers in euros, including sending and receiving money to and from family members abroad.
Serbia has become the 41st member of the SEPA area, and the full implementation of these rules brings substantial changes in the way cross-border payments are processed.
What changes, and what remains the same?
Joining SEPA is not just a financial and technical step, it also confirms that Serbia has aligned its regulatory framework with European standards in the field of payment services, marking a concrete step forward in its EU integration process.
In the initial phase, Serbian banks are joining the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme, while SEPA Instant, which enables money transfers within seconds, 24/7, is expected to be introduced in the coming years.
It is important to note that SEPA applies exclusively to euro-denominated cross-border transactions. The system does not impose new obligations on users, the only requirement is to use the correct IBAN of the recipient.
Although SEPA originated as an initiative linked to the introduction of the euro within the European Union, participation in SEPA is not conditional on a country adopting the euro as its official currency, and the system has expanded beyond the EU over time.
The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a project launched by the European banking industry with the support of national governments, the European Commission, and the European System of Central Banks. Its goal was simple yet ambitious: to eliminate the distinction between domestic and cross-border euro payments. Thanks to SEPA, individuals and companies can make cashless euro payments anywhere within the EU, as well as in a number of countries beyond it, quickly, securely, and efficiently, as if they were making payments within their own country.
(EUpavo zato)
