SEPA allows you to make a non-urgent (non-same day) euro credit transfer to any account or execute a euro direct debit on any account in SEPA that is reachable for national payments or debits today. The introduction of SEPA means that cross-border electronic payments in euro across SEPA member states can be as quick, easy and cost effective as the equivalent domestic payments.

The current 36 member states that comprise SEPA are the 28 EU member states, the three European Economic Area member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) as well as Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland & Vatican City.

In February 2012, the European legislator adopted regulation (EU) No. 260/2012 which established 1st February 2014 as the mandatory deadline for migration to SEPA for electronic payments in member states where euro is the domestic currency (i.e. Bank of Ireland and it’s customers in the Republic of Ireland).

The SEPA Migration deadline has been extended by the Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO) and its member banks (including Bank of Ireland) to 31st March 2014.

For member states where euro is not the domestic currency, the deadline is 31st October 2016 (i.e. Bank of Ireland and it’s customers in Northern Ireland & Great Britain).

If you are a personal customer and would like to read more about the impacts to you, please click here. If you are a business or corporate customer and would like to read more about the impacts to you, please click here.

SEPA Transfers

A SEPA transfer is a payment to a payee whose bank is located within the SEPA zone (including Ireland and the UK). Transfers to these types of payees can be made in Euro only. The current members that comprise SEPA are the 28 EU member states, the three European Economic Area countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) as well as Andorra, Gibraltar, Monaco, San Marino Switzerland, and Vatican City.

List of member states within the SEPA zone

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican City.

International Transfer

For Republic of Ireland (ROI) customers, an International (Non SEPA) Transfer (formerly known as ‘International Transfer’) is used for euro transfers to non SEPA zone countries (e.g. Euro to China) and foreign currency payments (e.g. USD to USA or Sterling to the UK).

For Northern Ireland and Great Britain (NIGB) customers, an International Transfer is used to send payments in GBP or other available currencies, excluding euro, to SEPA zone countries (e.g. GBP to France) and non-SEPA zone countries ( e.g. AUD to Australia).

Key changes to payees/transfer options for all Bank of Ireland customers:

1. Republic of Ireland customers

• Domestic transfers are now known as SEPA transfers and allow you to make euro payments to SEPA Zone states
• Domestic payees have been renamed SEPA payees with account details converted to BIC and IBAN
• BIC and IBAN details are now required when setting up a new SEPA payee or standing order
• International Transfers are now known as International (Non SEPA) Transfers and can be used to make euro transfers to non SEPA zone states or foreign currency payments
• Certain International Payees have been re-categorised as SEPA payees (i.e. SEPA zone states with euro as their local currency and states for which we only offer euro as the transferring currency)
• International (Non SEPA) payees set up by post continue to have a daily transaction limit of €20,000 (limit is €10,000 if set up via mobile)
• If a payee was originally added using a security code sent by post their daily transaction limit will move from €12,000 to €20,000 when they become a SEPA payee (limit remains €10,000 if set up via mobile)

Any existing International payees for the SEPA zone member states on the table below remain International (Non SEPA) Payees. If you wish to transfer in euro to any of these member states then you will need to also set the payee up as a SEPA payee.

Croatia	Poland
Czech Republic	Sweden
Denmark	Switzerland
Hungary	United Kingdom
Norway

Any existing International payees from SEPA zone member states on the table below have become SEPA Payees as a result of recent changes.

Austria	Italy
Belgium	Liechtenstein
Bulgaria	Lithuania
Cyprus	Luxembourg
Estonia	Malta
Finland	Monaco
France	Netherlands
Germany	Portugal
Gibraltar	Romania
Greece	San Marino
Iceland	Slovak Republic
Latvia	Slovenia
	Spain

2. Northern Ireland and Great Britain customers

• Euro payments to SEPA zone members will now be sent as SEPA transfers instead of International transfers.
• Existing international payees, whom you previously paid in euro, will now be created as SEPA payees. However these payees will still be included in your list of international payees to allow you the option to transfer money in available currencies other than euro.
• Important note – If you have euro accounts registered on 365 with existing payees that you pay in euro they will not be automatically created as SEPA Payees. Therefore you will need to set them up again as SEPA Payees, for assistance on how to do this please telephone 0345 7 365 555
• BIC and IBAN details are required when setting up a new SEPA payee.
• International payees set up by post will continue to have a daily transaction limit of £20,000 (limit is £10,000 if set up via mobile)

Any existing international payees, from a SEPA zone country, on the table below have now become SEPA payees*. These payees will still be available as an international payee option where there is a payment option available in another currency than euro.

Austria	Latvia
Belgium	Liechtenstein
Bulgaria	Lithuania
Croatia	Luxembourg
Cyprus	Malta
Czech Republic	Netherlands
Denmark	Norway
Estonia	Poland
Finland	Portugal
France	Romania
Germany	Slovak Republic
Greece	Slovenia
Hungary	Spain
Iceland	Sweden
Ireland	Switzerland
Italy

*Important note – If you have euro accounts registered on 365 with existing payees that you pay in euro they will not be automatically created as SEPA Payees. Therefore you will need to set them up again as SEPA Payees, for assistance on how to do this please telephone 0345 7 365 555.