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The European Payments Council (EPC) has approved adding the Republic of Serbia to the geographical scope of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), in a win for the country’s payment service providers (PSPs).
With Serbia’s accession, SEPA’s geographical scope now spans 41 countries, enabling Serbian financial institutions to offer euro payment services under the same conditions as those in the EU.
Practical implementation is expected to begin in May 2026, with Serbian PSPs’ adherence to the SEPA schemes scheduled to start from November 2025.
"Thanks to becoming part of SEPA, our citizens will be able to make payment transactions in euros with SEPA member countries much more efficiently, faster and cheaper,” said Sinisa Mali, Serbia’s finance minister.
“This achievement formally confirms Serbia's compliance with all relevant EU regulations in the field of payment transactions and further strengthens our commitment to the European path,” he added.
“This is the result of the European Union's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which aims to accelerate economic convergence with the EU and strengthen regional cooperation.”
The move allows SEPA scheme participants across Europe to send and receive SEPA Credit Transfers (SCT), SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) and SEPA Direct Debits (SDD) with counterparties in Serbia once the country’s PSPs are fully onboarded.
Serbia is the latest in a growing list of non-EU countries to join SEPA, and the EPC has extended SEPA’s reach to several countries in south-east Europe as part of its plans for the Western Balkans, which are largely in candidate status to join the trading bloc.
North Macedonia and Moldova officially joined SEPA on March 6, 2025, following significant reforms led by their respective central banks.
Montenegro and Albania were added earlier, on November 21, 2024, with PSPs in both countries expected to be operationally ready by October 5 this year.
A win-win
SEPA expansion into the Western Balkans is a mutually beneficial measure. It supports regional financial integration and economic development, while strengthening the reach, scale and standardisation of the European retail payments landscape.
Geopolitically, it positions the EU as a regulatory and infrastructure leader in cross-border payments, and strengthens the international role of the euro, which has been an aspiration of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Participation in SEPA also often requires countries to upgrade their national payment infrastructure, and goes some way towards supporting broader financial sector reform so that the resilience and efficiency of domestic systems is built up.
For local PSPs and fintechs, SEPA participation opens the door to a much larger integrated market, as it enables them to scale services across borders, compete on a level playing field, and form partnerships with EU-based institutions.
This should generate new growth opportunities and foster innovation in domestic financial ecosystems.
