The National Bank of Serbia and the World Bank held an international workshop in Belgrade on the technical and legal requirements for Serbian banks and other payment service providers to access the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment schemes, with a focus on enabling cross-border credit transfers, instant payments and direct debits through European Payments Council (EPC) frameworks. The central bank linked the initiative to Serbia’s reforms and infrastructure, including a modern legal framework for payment services, strengthened banking and fintech capacity, the DinaCard payment card, and the IPS NBS instant payment system, which has operated in real time since 2018 and processes over five million transactions per month. The programme covered joining and application processes for SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SEPA Credit Transfer Instant (SCT Inst) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD), the role of the European Instant Payment System (TIPS) in cross-border transfers, and implementation experience from European institutions. Under the EPC calendar, connections are expected to be enabled from November 2025, while the earliest operational readiness for Serbian payment service providers was indicated as May 2026, and the National Bank of Serbia said it will support participants seeking to join with minimal cost and information-system changes.
National Bank of Serbia 2025-05-27
National Bank of Serbia and World Bank run workshop on technical and legal steps for Serbian providers to join SEPA schemes
The National Bank of Serbia and the World Bank held a workshop in Belgrade on the technical and legal requirements for Serbian banks to access Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) schemes. This aligns with Serbia's payment service reforms and infrastructure, including the DinaCard and IPS NBS systems. The programme covered SEPA Credit Transfer, Instant, and Direct Debit processes, with operational readiness for Serbian providers anticipated by May 2026.