SEPA was created by Europe’s banks in 2002 in response to regulations and plans drawn up by the European Commission from a meeting in Lisbon at the turn of the millennium. Consequently, SEPA has been assisted by new legislation, the PSD, which was agreed in 2007. The implementation of SEPA takes place in 2008 within the banking industry, with full operation in 2010, and will be a massive change to not just banking, but all aspects of finance and financial services across Europe and the globe. This is because the vision for SEPA is that, by 2010, all euro payments are treated in the same way as domestic payments. In other words, European citizens and corporations enjoy a transparent market where there is no difference in charges for payments between Rome, Madrid, Paris and Munich. As a result, citizens, governments and corporations will have full access to finance transparently across 15 countries today and potentially 31 tomorrow. A United States of Europe, fuelled by fully...