On 6 March 2025, the European Payments Council (EPC) issued a press release stating that it had approved the inclusion of the Republic of North Macedonia and Moldova in the geographical scope of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment schemes.
The press release adds that:
- All existing EPC payment scheme participants will be able to send or to receive SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) transactions to and from SCT, SCT Inst and SDD scheme participants from North Macedonia and Moldova as of when their financial institutions will have adhered to the respective scheme(s).
- The adherence of financial institutions from these countries to the SEPA payment schemes, according to the EPC calendar, will be enabled starting from April 2025. The Operational Readiness Date for payment service providers from the Republic of North Macedonia and Moldova is set for 5 October 2025.