The parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt draft law No. 14327 on Ukraine’s accession to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
According to the committee vote, 13 members supported the decision, one abstained and two voted against.
MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak criticized several provisions, in particular tighter financial monitoring. He warned about potential issues around a register of accounts and safe deposit boxes and noted that the draft removed the open competition rule for the head of the financial monitoring authority.
Earlier, European Commission representatives stressed the need to harmonize Ukrainian legislation with EU anti‑money‑laundering norms. They view SEPA integration as an important step for Ukraine’s EU track that can reduce the cost of international payments for businesses and citizens.
The government has already approved a package of bills needed for accession to SEPA.
What SEPA is and how it works
SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is a unified euro‑payments zone covering 41 countries. It enables standardized cashless transfers in EUR, making cross‑border payments work like domestic transfers—faster, cheaper and under common rules.
SEPA includes EU member states, the United Kingdom, EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) and other jurisdictions such as Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican. All transactions use IBAN and are executed in euro, including standard transfers, SEPA Instant and direct debits for recurring payments.
Most transfers are completed within one business day, while instant payments can arrive within seconds, providing high security and lower transaction costs.
