It is important to ensure that they have pan-European reach so that end users can make and receive payments without restriction across national borders. To this end, the ERPB set up a working group to analyse in detail the barriers to pan-European reach and usability and ways to overcome them.
Many of the innovative payment solutions introduced over the past few years have been based on the use of card payment schemes. Although payment cards are the most widely used payment instrument in Europe, a true SEPA for cards has not yet been achieved.