European Parliament
Laima Liucija Andrikienė  (PPE ),
in writing
. −
I voted in favour of this resolution because it aims at establishing an internal market for payment services in euro (Single Euro Payments Area or SEPA) in which there is no difference of regime between cross-border and national payments. This decision may well bring benefits to the European economy that could amount to EUR 100-300 billion in six years time. I believe this proposal will benefit EU citizens as the Regulation eliminates the need for consumers to provide a BIC code for domestic payments. The consumer only needs to provide the IBAN code and the bank will automatically establish the BIC without extra charge. For cross-border payments, this requirement will be enforced on 1 February 2016. A Member State may also allow consumers to use BBAN instead of IBAN for two extra years, but the banks need to provide the conversion services for free. I also support the Parliament’s proposal that there be no extra charges for payments above EUR 50 000.

