The first international conference dedicated to the perspective of the Republic of Moldova’s accession to the Single Euro Payments Area took place in Chişinău 

The benefits and challenges of the Republic of Moldova’s accession to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), as well as the progress made by the authorities to comply with the SEPA criteria, were addressed at the International Conference “Moldova’s Accession to the Single Euro Payments Area – achievements and perspectives”, which took place on 17 November 2022 in Chişinău. The event was organised by the National Bank of Moldova (BNM), within the Twinning project “Strengthening supervision, corporate governance and risk management in the financial sector”, financed by the European Union.

At the opening of the conference, the Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, Octavian Armașu, emphasised that the accession to the Single Euro Payments Area represents an exercise of national importance, a country project, an essential step in the context of the integration of the Republic of Moldova into the European Union.

Present at the event, the Moldovan Prime Minister, Natalia Gavrilița, declared that the accession to the SEPA area remains a priority, in the context in which the economy of the country is closely interconnected with that of the European area.

One of the objectives of the EU Twinning project “Strengthening supervision, corporate governance and risk management in the financial sector” is to provide support to the National Bank of Moldova to align the legislation and regulatory framework of the Republic of Moldova to the standards of the Single Euro Payments Area, as well as drafting the application procedure for SEPA membership as a non-EEA (European Economic Area) member.

“Joining the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) will bring the Republic of Moldova closer to the EU and its single market. This will result in valuable and visible benefits to the citizens who will be able to make cashless euro payment to anywhere in the European Union. We congratulate the National Bank of Moldova for preparing and approving the action plan with milestones and deadlines for adhering to SEPA. The more difficult work is yet to follow as it involves the necessary legal amendments are drafted and the application file to join SEPA is prepared. The Republic of Moldova needs a healthy, stable and fully functioning financial system that can serve its citizens, businesses and provide basis for the sustained economic growth. The EU will continue to support Moldova, in particular, given that criteria of SEPA membership mirror some approximation requirements, relevant also for EU accession.” stated Jānis Mažeiks, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova.

The special guest of the conference was Etienne Goose, Director General of the European Payments Council – the institution that will make the decision to allow the inclusion of our country in the SEPA geographical area.

The plenary session was followed by two debates on the topics: “The benefits and challenges of joining the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)” and “Efforts and progress made by the Moldovan authorities to comply with the SEPA criteria. Necessary steps to follow in view to draft the SEPA accession file”.

The EU Twinning project “Strengthening supervision, corporate governance and risk management in the financial sector” was launched in January 2021 for a period of two years. Within it, the National Bank of Moldova (BNM) and the National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM) benefit from EU support for the further development and reform of the financial sector of the Republic of Moldova. The partner institutions of the project, which provide support to the NBM and NCFM, are the National Bank of Romania, the Central Bank of the Netherlands, and the Central Bank of Lithuania, in cooperation with the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority and the Romanian National Consumer Protection Authority.

Twinning is an EU instrument for institutional cooperation between the authorities of EU Member States and authorities of beneficiary countries. The Twinning projects aim at developing the institutional capacities of the beneficiary authorities. In these projects, EU public sector experts are seconded to assist the beneficiary authorities in achieving specific objectives. Further information on the Twinning assistance instrument is available on the European Commission’s website.

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is that geographical area where there are no differences between cashless payments in euros, national or cross-border.

In SEPA, customers will be able to make and receive cashless payments in euros, as safely, quickly, and efficiently as in a national context, using a single account and standardized payment instruments, by means of which a customer can make payments from his own account to any other destination in the SEPA area. These standards are the foundation for the development of exclusively electronic payment services, such as internet and mobile payments, electronic invoicing services and other electronic value-added services. SEPA is the largest project carried out by the European payments industry, aiming to create an integrated market for payment services in euros, by removing commercial, legal and technical barriers between the national payment markets participating in the SEPA area.