SEPA is a European scheme that aims to standardize payments in the markets of the European Union. If you have a bank account in a SEPA country, you can freely and easily transfer money to other SEPA bank accounts. SEPA stands for the Single Euro Payments Area and there are 36 SEPA countries. Since 2021 banks are implementing instant bank-transfers ("Instant SEPA"), which enables money transfers within 10 seconds. If you don’t have a bank account in a SEPA country yet, you can open a SEPA bank account for free online.
List of SEPA countries 2024 include all 28 member states of the European Union, plus Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. Over 500 million people can send and receive payments under the same rights and conditions irrespective of their location. To transfer funds to or from a SEPA country, all you need is an IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and the amount that you want to transfer.
What is SEPA?
SEPA is a payment system that makes it easy for banks to transfer money in euro denomination. The payment system is free and has boosted business and transfers within Europe. If you or your business are not inside the SEPA zone, you can still benefit from the possibilities of SEPA by opening a non resident account. With such an account, it is possible to receive and send money in Euros with very low fees.
Credit transfers in Europe were introduced in January 2008 while direct debits were introduced in 2010. This made inter-border transfers easy and efficient thus making it a competition. In 2014 SEPA handled 99.9 percent direct debits, 99.4 percent credit transfers and 79.2 percent card payments within Europe. SEPA credit and debit transfers are managed by the European Payment Council to ensure smooth and secure cross-border payments within the SEPA countries.
SEPA countries list 2024
What countries are in the sepa zone? Here’s a list of SEPA zone countries, including BIC codes, IBAN codes and the country’s currency.
| Country/territory | BIC | IBAN | Currency code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Åland Islands | FI | FI | EUR |
| Austria | AT | AT | EUR |
| Azores | PT | PT | EUR |
| Belgium | BE | BE | EUR |
| Bulgaria | BG | BG | BGN |
| Canary Islands | ES | ES | EUR |
| Croatia | HR | HR | HRK |
| Cyprus | CY | CY | EUR |
| Czech Republic | CZ | CZ | CZK |
| Denmark | DK | DK | DKK |
| Estonia | EE | EE | EUR |
| Finland | FI | FI | EUR |
| France | FR | FR | EUR |
| French Guiana | GF | FR | EUR |
| Germany | DE | DE | EUR |
| Gibraltar | GI | GI | GIP |
| Greece | GR | GR | EUR |
| Guadeloupe | GP | FR | EUR |
| Guernsey | GG | GB | GBP |
| Hungary | HU | HU | HUF |
| Iceland | IS | IS | ISK |
| Ireland | IE | IE | EUR |
| Isle of Man | IM | GB | GBP |
| Italy | IT | IT | EUR |
| Jersey | JE | GB | GBP |
| Latvia | LV | LV | EUR |
| Liechtenstein | LI | LI | CHF |
| Lithuania | LT | LT | EUR |
| Luxembourg | LU | LU | EUR |
| Madeira | PT | PT | EUR |
| Malta | MT | MT | EUR |
| Martinique | MQ | FR | EUR |
| Mayotte | YT | FR | EUR |
| Monaco | MC | MC | EUR |
| Netherlands | NL | NL | EUR |
| Norway | NO | NO | NOK |
| Poland | PL | PL | PLN |
| Portugal | PT | PT | EUR |
| Réunion | RE | FR | EUR |
| Romania | RO | RO | RON |
| Saint Barthélemy | BL | FR | EUR |
| Saint Martin (French part) | MF | FR | EUR |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon | PM | FR | EUR |
| San Marino | SM | SM | EUR |
| Slovakia | SK | SK | EUR |
| Slovenia | SI | SI | EUR |
| Spain | ES | ES | EUR |
| Sweden | SE | SE | SEK |
| Switzerland | CH | CH | CHF |
| United Kingdom | GB | GB | GBP |
Non SEPA countries 2024
Not all European countries are part of the SEPA zone. Here’s Non SEPA countries list:
| Country | Currency |
|---|---|
| Albania | Lek |
| Armenia | Dram |
| Azerbaijan | Manat |
| Belarus | Belarusian ruble |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Convertible mark |
| Georgia | Lari |
| Kazakhstan | Tenge |
| Kosovo | Euro |
| Moldova | Moldovan leu |
| Montenegro | Euro |
| North Macedonia | Macedonian denar |
| Russia | Russian ruble |
| Serbia | Serbian dinar |
| Turkey | Turkish lira |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian hryvnia |
Over the next decade only the countries in the Balkan area, such as Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania are expected to join SEPA.
Is UK part of SEPA: Although the UK is no longer part of the EU, it is still part of the SEPA payment scheme as non-EEA SEPA country. However, the fees might be higher. If you are looking for SEPA alternatives, you can set up a business in Estonia regardless of whether the UK remains in SEPA or not. If you’re not in the UK but you do business with UK businesses it can be smart to open an account with more flexible banks, such as Revolut. Revolut is free for individuals and already offers multi-currency accounts. After Brexit, Revolut acquired a licence in Lithuania in order to continue offering euro accounts inside the EU. In case you are worrying about the risk of the British pound dropping massively it can be an interesting option to hedge the risk with Bitcoin, which is likely to go up in price in case of tensions related to international trade.
References
- Wikipedia about SEPA
- European Central Bank: SEPA
- List of SEPA countries, in various formats including XML
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