The Euro Banking Association (EBA) is an

industry forum A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partici ...

for the European

payments industry A payment is the voluntary tender of money or its equivalent or of things of value by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods, or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation. The party making the p ...

with close to 200 member banks and organisations from the European Union and around the world aimed at fostering and driving pan-European payment initiatives. Through its industry initiatives and the euro payment systems it has delivered, the EBA is a key contributor to the creation of a standardised

Single Euro Payments Area The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro. , there were 36 members in SEPA, consisting of the 27 member states of the European Union ...

(SEPA).

History and structure

The Euro Banking Association (EBA) was founded in Paris in 1985 by 18 commercial banks and the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

. The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

as well as the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks". The BIS carries out its work thr ...

(BIS) supported the founding of the EBA. Since then, the number of members has risen to almost 200. The institutions come from all member states of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

as well as from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, China, Japan, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and the United States. In its early years, the agenda of the EBA included the promotion of the

European Monetary Union The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. There are three stages of the EMU, each of which consists of progr ...

(EMU) and the development and management of a private industry ECU clearing system stretching across Europe. For the start of the EMU, the EBA delivered EURO1, a RTGS-equivalent large-value payment system for single

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

transactions. The EBA also developed STEP1, a payment service for single euro payments of high priority and urgency for small and medium-sized banks, and

STEP2 EBA Clearing is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure wholly owned by shareholders that consist of major European banks. It owns and operates major payment infrastructure in Europe for Euro payments between banks. This includes EURO1 ...

, a Pan-European Automated Clearing House (PE-ACH), which processes euro retail payments. All three payment systems are run by

EBA Clearing EBA Clearing is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure wholly owned by shareholders that consist of major European banks. It owns and operates major payment infrastructure in Europe for Euro payments between banks. This includes EURO1 ...

References

EBA CLEARING

MyBank

EBAday

The Payment System

External links

* {{Members of Euro Banking Association Banking in the European Union Business and finance professional associations 1985 establishments in France Organizations based in Paris French companies established in 1985