The European Payments Council Board has today (7 March 2019) taken the decision to approve UK Finance's application for the continued participation of UK Payment Service Providers in the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) schemes after 29 March 2019 in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Responding, UK Finance Chief Executive Stephen Jones commented:

The European Payments Council (EPC) Board's vote in favour of the UK's continued participation in the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) is an important milestone.

Today's decision ensures that in the event of a ?no-deal? Brexit, UK payment service providers will still be able to make and receive payments from other European countries that are part of SEPA.

This is a positive outcome for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Channel who rely on the SEPA schemes to make billions of euros worth of payments each year.

We now look forward to continuing to engage closely with our partners in Europe on improving the payment experience for customers and businesses alike.

The EPC Decision Paper: Brexit and UK PSPs? participation in SEPA schemes (March 2019), can be found here.