Press release on the reunion of the SEPA National Forum
28.04.2010
The first reunion of the SEPA National Forum was held at the head office of the National Bank of Romania on Wednesday, 28 April 2010. The event was organised by the central bank and the Romanian Banking Association and was attended by 150 representatives of the financial and banking sector and of the business community in Romania.
The SEPA National Forum is an advisory body comprising representatives of the business community, of professional associations and organisations as well as of the domestic banking sector. It was established with a view to supporting the implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in Romania.
Participants in the reunion, which was chaired by Mr. Florin Georgescu, First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania, and Mr. Radu Graţian Gheţea, Chairman of the Romanian Banking Association, focused on the SEPA initiative, its benefits for payment service users and the actual stage of implementing the project at European and national levels.
Developed by the European Central Bank and the European Commission, the SEPA concept represents an area where all retail payments in euro, cross-border payments included, are treated as “domestic”, meaning there will no longer be any differentiation between national and cross-border payments within the euro area. The single area will materialise by developing common payment instruments, standards, procedures and infrastructures. (See www.bnr.ro and www.arb.ro for further details)