The European Commission has entrusted UniCredit with the management of a significant part of its SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) payment transactions. UniCredit will thus become one of the four bank groups responsible for SEPA payments carried out by the European Commission.

For Sergio Ermotti, Deputy CEO of UniCredit, "this mandate demonstrates the quality of UniCredit's Global Transaction Banking services, which enable the Group to serve customers in 22 European countries".

Marco Bolgiani, head of Global Transaction Banking at UniCredit adds: "UniCredit's commitment towards SEPA was the determining factor behind the choice of the European Commission, together with the size of our network in Europe".

UniCredit was given the mandate as the result of a tender that was open to all European banks. "With a share of between 25 and 35% of the total volume of payments we have proved our competitiveness once again", said Marco Bolgiani.

The total transaction will amount to more than 1.6 million international payments with a volume of over EUR 33 billion. The European Commission's decision to process payment transactions via SEPA in the future and to focus on four banks forms part of a project to adopt a single payments system in Europe and will result in the gradual abandonment of the previous model in which local banks in every European state were responsible for processing European Commission payments.

SEPA payments were introduced in Italy with a directive that acknowledges the EU Payment services directive.

The aim of the directive is to support the creation of a single euro payments area (SEPA) and it will provide access to a larger range of electronic payment systems for small sums of money, as well as an increase in the speed of bank transfers. 98% of Italian banks have signed up to the system.

SEPA aims to offer European citizens the possibility of making payments to third parties in any country in the Euro zone using a single bank account and a collection of harmonised payment tools.

Aside from a further and rapid dematerialization of money, the introduction of the directive in the EU will produce a series of advantages related to the possibility of using a single card for payments in all EU countries, including those in the European Economic Area. Thirty countries in all, of which only 9 (including Italy) had not yet definitely acknowledged the directive in 2009.

The laws passed by the government involve a series of systems to protect and minimise the responsibilities of the weaker parties (end consumers and small businesses). Users are in fact reimbursed those sums paid in the event of the unauthorised use of the electronic payment method (either that or fraudulent activities must be demonstrated).

The obligations of parties with regard to payments of under 30 euro per single operation and 150 euro as maximum spending limit have also been minimised. A simplification that will obviously require greater attention on the part of both users and banks.