Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA): cost-benefit study

The European Commission has published a major study into the costs, benefits and opportunities created by SEPA (the Single Euro Payments Area) which was formally launched on 28 January 2008. The study shows that in the most favourable scenario the net benefits to payments markets over the next six years could amount to as much as EUR 123 billion with users gaining most. However, this calls for rapid and full migration from existing national payment products to the new SEPA payment instruments. The study also estimates that if SEPA can be used as a platform for e-invoicing there are further potential gains of EUR 238 billion.

The link address is: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/sepa/ec_en.htm