23.05.2025.
Dear citizens,
I am pleased to inform you that the Republic of Serbia has officially become a part of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), an initiative aimed at making payments across European countries more efficient.
This notable achievement is the result of efforts undertaken by the National Bank of Serbia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and other Serbian institutions, to align our regulations and practices with the rules and standards applied in the EU, in order to provide citizens and businesses with the most advanced payment and other financial services.
As Cicero once said, “Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.”
Commitment to the interests of our country and the truth have guided us on this path. We did not give up, even in the face of challenges, but worked diligently, guided by these values as a beacon along the way.
SEPA membership is significant not only for all of us who worked toward achieving this goal, but above all, for all our citizens and the economy, for two key reasons.
First, formally joining SEPA is a confirmation of our commitment to the process of European integration. It is proof of our clear European path and the strengthening of financial ties with the European Union, as well as evidence that our financial sector – namely, the institutions that comprise it – operates in accordance with European regulations and standards.
Second, but no less important, fulfilling this formal requirement opens the door to what is the essence of this process: improving the performance of cross-border payments.
This means that payments made by our citizens and businesses to entities in EU countries and other SEPA members will become more favourable – with lower fees and shorter processing times.
For seven years now, our citizens and businesses have enjoyed all the benefits of instant payments, which are completed in just a few seconds, thanks to our instant payment system – one of the first of its kind in the world, and still the only system of this type in the Western Balkans region.
Within this system, we have developed numerous innovative services that citizens use daily, such as payments via QR code scanning and money transfers to recipients using only their mobile phone number.
To promote cashless payments, we also introduced a modern domestic payment card – our DinaCard – significantly reducing costs for both users and merchants, while ensuring the independence and reliability of the national payment system.
With Serbia joining SEPA, conditions have been created for the second phase of the project and continued modernisation of the national payment system.
This phase involves the inclusion of payment service providers from our country in the SEPA payment schemes, which represent a set of common rules for executing payment services such as credit transfers, instant credit transfers, and direct debits, as defined by the European Payments Council.
The inclusion procedure requires that payment service providers submit the necessary documentation to the European Payments Council to join a specific payment scheme – this includes a signed Adherence Agreement and other required documentation.
According to the European Payments Council’s calendar, payment service providers from Serbia will be able to start submitting documentation to join the SEPA payment schemes as of November this year. May 2026 is set as the earliest date from which they can begin operational activities within the SEPA schemes, that is, the execution of payments.
The National Bank of Serbia will, as always, provide all necessary support to payment service providers throughout this process, so that all participants from Serbia can prepare efficiently and join the SEPA payment schemes, thereby improving payment transactions with the EU and other SEPA member countries.
We continue working to ensure that, starting from May 2026, citizens and businesses truly experience the real benefits of joining SEPA – cheaper and faster international payments, as well as easier access to the EU market, which will stimulate Serbia’s further economic growth.
In cooperation with the European Central Bank, the National Bank of Serbia has been analysing for several months the possibilities for our payment service providers to join the TIPS, a pan-European instant payment system operated by that central bank.
The goal is to enable payment service providers from Serbia to execute SEPA instant transactions with minimal costs and changes to their information systems.
Therefore, our country’s accession to SEPA is significant news for all of us, but membership alone means nothing if the technical integration is not carried out in a way that keeps costs as low as possible and ensures that transaction execution is just as efficient as domestic payments are today. Only in this way will citizens and businesses truly benefit from SEPA, enjoying faster and cheaper payments with EU countries and the region.
The National Bank of Serbia approaches this task with dedication as always and will not depart from its principles, prioritising the interests of citizens and businesses above all else.
Governor`s Office
