SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, came into being on 1 January 2008 consisting of the 27 EU countries plus Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Thanks to the adoption of new electronic payment and collection instruments and to standard rules for the use of payment cards, it will now be possible to make and receive payments in Euros within this area at the same conditions and with the same rights and obligations as if the transactions had taken place within the same country.
Following adoption of the Euro as the single currency in 2002, the creation of SEPA is a tangible demonstration of the creation of an effective, competitive common market for exchanges between citizens and companies.

The banking industries of SEPA countries, after an adequate preparatory phase, are now ready to introduce the SEPA transfer (based on the pan European format called SEPA Credit Transfer), available from 28 January 2008, after properly preparing themselves.
The SEPA transfer will co-exist alongside the traditional national payment instruments until 2010 when all the SEPA countries will adopt the new payment instrument en masse.

Intesa Sanpaolo will make the SEPA Credit Transfer, which it has called the Bonifico Europeo Unico - Single European Transfer, available to its customers immediately once it has been introduced. Thanks to its characteristics, it enables faster, easier Euro payments and will significantly increase companies' operating efficiency due to the elimination of the difference between domestic and cross border payments.

The Italian banking industry has adopted the IBAN as the single bank identifier for all current account payments, including those made in Italy using the traditional payment instruments with effect from 1 January 2008, given the roll out of SEPA. Transfers without the IBAN will be accepted until 1 June 2008.

Companies that use the corporate remote banking service can obtain their counterparties' identifiers from the IBAN electronic alignment service, made available by the Italian banks on 1 November 2007.

The SEPA Credit Transfer is, however, not the only innovation introduced by SEPA.

SEPA also has new rules for payment cards: cards issued or renewed after 2008 will have a microchip compliant with the EMV safety standards (EMV = Europay/Mastercard/Visa, the names of the payment circuits that set the standards). These standards will facilitate the more effective detection of duplication fraud and card counterfeits. The acceptance networks (ATM and POS) will have to be updated in all SEPA countries before 2010. Another significant advantage for cardholders is the possibility to use the same card throughout the entire area at the same conditions.

Other payment instruments for the SEPA during the implementation stage are the SEPA Direct Debit and the SEPA Priority Payment.