Online and offline payments within Europe
Would you like to transfer money to a European bank account? Or settle invoices or pay for purchases across national borders? Or do you want to pay for your online purchase in a secure way?
An overview of the different payment options:
- Paying for internet purchases
- European bank transfers
- European direct debits
- European payments by bank card, cash or cheques
- Sending money
- Virtual payments
- Recovering money following an error, theft or fraud
- Online investments
SEPA: harmonised payment methods in Europe
Thanks to SEPA, the Single European Payment Area for the euro, bank transfers, direct debits and bank card transactions can now be completed in the same way across Europe.
By implementing the SEPA zone, the European Commission has led the banks of the SEPA countries to harmonise and standardise the means of payment in euros. Not all EU countries are part of the SEPA zone. You will find a list below of the countries concerned.
Standardisation within the SEPA countries focuses on the following payment methods:
Summary of SEPA countries
| SEPA countries that are a member of the European Union and use the euro as their national currency | Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus (Greek sector), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain |
| SEPA countries that are a member of the European Union but use another national currency than the euro | Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden |
| SEPA countries that are not a member of the European Union | Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and the United Kingdom |
The European Commission website ‘Your Europe’ provides general information on financial products and services in Europe.
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