SEPA countries: where a euro transfer works like a domestic one
SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, covers 41 countries in which euro credit transfers, instant transfers and direct debits run under the same schemes of the European Payments Council. Not every SEPA country uses the euro, and not every country that uses the euro is in SEPA. What counts is that the payment itself is in euro and both banks take part in the schemes.
The list of SEPA countries
The 27 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The three other EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. And 11 countries outside the EEA: Albania, Andorra, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Vatican City State. Bank of Ireland publishes the same list of 41.
The newest members
The SEPA area grew in 2024 and 2025. Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and North Macedonia were admitted first; the EPC board approved Serbia in May 2025, with Serbian payment service providers able to adhere from November 2025 and an earliest operational date in May 2026, as European Western Balkans reported. For a German company with suppliers in the Western Balkans, a euro payment there no longer has to travel the correspondent chain once the receiving bank has joined the schemes.
SEPA after Brexit, and Switzerland
The United Kingdom stayed in SEPA after leaving the EU, because SEPA membership does not depend on EU membership, as Stripe notes. Switzerland takes part in the same way. Both keep their own currencies: a SEPA payment to London or Zurich is a euro payment to a euro account or to an account that accepts euro. A pound or franc payment still goes over the SWIFT chain or a domestic rail.
SEPA scheme or EU law
SEPA membership means the EPC schemes apply. The EU rules on top of them apply only in the EU and the EEA: the equal charges for cross-border euro payments under Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, covered on cross-border payments in Europe, and the duty to offer instant payments. A bank in the UK or Switzerland may therefore price a SEPA payment differently from a bank in Germany.
Upcoming payments events
Is the UK in SEPA?
Yes. The United Kingdom has remained in the SEPA area after Brexit, so a euro transfer to a UK bank that takes part in the schemes runs as a SEPA credit transfer. Payments in pounds are not SEPA payments.
Is Turkey in SEPA?
No. Turkey uses IBANs but is not in the SEPA area, so a payment from Germany to Turkey, in euro or lira, goes as a SWIFT transfer.
How many SEPA countries are there?
Forty-one: the 27 EU member states, the three other EEA countries and 11 countries outside the EEA, the newest of them Serbia.
SEPA countries and Finance Loop
Finance Loop is the meeting place in Germany for the payment teams that run SEPA transfers, direct debits and instant payments at banks, payment institutions and merchants. Finance Loop runs its own Frankfurt and Berlin formats on instant transfers, card payments and the digital euro, and keeps the dates of payments events in its calendar.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.