The Challenges Facing Single Euro Payments Area Adoption in the Light of the Financial Crisis

The scope of this article is to point out how the present financial crisis is affecting the European payments landscape and the Single Euro Payments Area implementation. The current unpredictable and very challenging market situation has not fundamentally changed the fact that payment services need to continue modernization in order to become more flexible, agile and adapt in order to comply with its important purpose in society. The study is structured on chapters that present the manner in which the credit crisis is changing the payments landscape both for corporate bodies and banks, the possibilities of making a business case for SEPA and the Payments Services Directive in the current economic climate, and the status of Single Euro Payments Area today. SEPA is needed to ensure the new modern payment platform that can enable Europe to move beyond basic services, increase payments efficiency, embrace innovation and integrate further services in the trade process. Despite the significant challenges and hurdles that still exist-including, of course, the unsettling impact of general market events over the last years - the foundations nevertheless continue to be put into place for an unprecedented joint initiative between the payment industry, the regulators and the user community with a view to realizing the significant benefits on offer to all stakeholders by taking the SEPA project to its national conclusion. In fact, it could even be argued - contrary perhaps to most commentators' instinctive reaction - that the turbulent market conditions could conceivably have the effect of accentuating rather than reducing the business case imperative and momentum to achieving full SEPA migration in the near term.