# Agreement reached on cross-border banking



## micandre (27 Mar 2007)

Hello,
I saw this on http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0327/banking.html?rss

From rte webpage
"Using credit or debit cards to make a cross-border transaction should become easier and cheaper, according to an agreement reached by EU finance ministers in Brussels.
From January 2008 consumers and small businesses across the EU will avail of a new 'single payments area' which could save the EU economy between €50bn and €100bn a year."

From what I understand at the end of this year I no longer have to have an Irish bank account and can shop around in Europe and have a German or Spanish account with the benefits they they may provide (Visa Debit cards, advanced internet banking)?

Regards.


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## Gulliver (29 Mar 2007)

Micandre
I am developing a comprehensive website in this .... it's the SEPA project which will "Europeanize" and standardise most payment systems.... Cards, EFT, Direct Debits, etc.

However, the media have massively overhyped the story, (albeit with some assistance from the EU.  

I would re-phrase the key sentence as :- "From January 2008 consumers and small businesses across the EU will avail of some initial elements of a new 'single payments area' which could eventually save the EU economy some money which could in an ideal scenario, in an enlarged Eurozone range possibly up to between €50bn and €100bn a year."

Other commentators have placed startup dates in 2009 or later on this and complete implementation taking some years thereafter.

Comprehensive website in early May... meantime, I have put an initial preview on www.moneytalk.ie/news


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## micandre (29 Mar 2007)

Thanks Gulliver, thats a very useful website.
Regards.


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## Welfarite (29 Mar 2007)

...and in the meantime, we continue to pay 1.75% on cross border (Derry and Donegal) transactions


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## MugsGame (29 Mar 2007)

I agree with Gulliver -- hyped beyond belief. No way this will be fully operational by next January. The number of systems changes is potentially huge.


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## DublinTexas (31 Mar 2007)

It's overhyped, however most countries on the continent are better prepared than good old Ireland.

There will be no big change for consumers at 1st, businesses will see some changes.

One can do IBAN transactions online for no charge from my account in Germany, Sweden, etc.. (One even pays a penality if one don't have an IBAN). So sending is not the problem, it's just a matter of accepting the data in a different format and being able to process it. And these days most banks need IBAN even for transactions in £ or other funny currencies.

Pan-European Direct Debit already exists (it's not cheap and it takes a while to clear but it's there), they now upgrade it to M-PEDD and mid of this year it should be there.

Most countries already have gone rid of their local debit card flavours (remember switch became maestro - german ec cards are now maestro), visa actualy has a pan european debit card solution (v pay) and is deploying it (in turkey and greece for starters of all places).

In some easter european countries I can even make a credit transfer from my Visa card to another persons Visa card these days.

We as irish consumers can only profit from this when our laser card works outside Ireland (well most banks now also have the maestro logo beside the old paper based PTSB), bank transfers from PTSB 33 Main Street to Ulster Bank 25 Main Street will take less than 4 days and i finaly can pay my Spanish Villa's electricity bill form my irish bank account (instead of my Irish Credit card).

It comes down to investments in infrastructure and accepting by the banks that their money making machine (holding our good funds for days) will go away. Funny they now have to invest to make less money, about time.

I can do UK to US transactions online and it's there 5 minutes later but IRL to IRL can take of up to 5 business days....


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