A client in Switzerland wants to pay an invoice, a supplier in Serbia sends its IBAN, a customer in Norway asks whether an ordinary transfer will do. Then you want to know whether those countries are in the SEPA area. The answer is on a fixed list, and that list has grown in recent years.
Below you will find all SEPA countries by group, the territories that belong to them, the countries that joined most recently and what difference it makes to a payment whether a country is in the European Union or not. What SEPA itself is and how a SEPA transfer works is covered in our article on SEPA.
In short:
- 41 countries: according to the European Payments Council (EPC) list of 24 December 2025, the 27 EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and eleven other countries belong to SEPA.
- Plus territories: the list also names sixteen territories separately, such as the Canary Islands, Gibraltar and Jersey.
- Always in euros: a SEPA payment is made in euros, also to a country with its own currency.
- Other rules outside the EU: rules from EU legislation, such as equal charges for payments in euros, do not apply outside the EU and the EEA, according to the European Central Bank.
- New: Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia were added in 2024 and 2025.
What is the SEPA area?
SEPA stands for Single Euro Payments Area. The SEPA area is the geographical scope of the payment schemes the European Payments Council manages: the arrangements for transfers and direct debits in euros. What is a SEPA country? A country on the EPC list. The same scheme rules apply there, so a transfer in euros follows the same rules everywhere.
The area is sometimes also called the SEPA zone. According to the European Central Bank, it consists of 41 European countries, including countries that are not in the euro area or the EU, and a number of territories with historical ties to those countries. That number is not fixed: the EPC decides on extensions and then publishes a new version of the list. The version of 24 December 2025 is the basis for this article.
SEPA countries: the list
The list of SEPA countries falls into four groups. The EPC puts the 27 EU member states and the three other countries of the European Economic Area together in one column and the eleven other countries in a second. Adding the currency shows why the grouping matters:
| Group | Countries | Currency |
|---|---|---|
| Euro area (21) | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain | Euro |
| EU without the euro (6) | Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden | Czech koruna, Danish krone, forint, zloty, Romanian leu, Swedish krona |
| EEA outside the EU (3) | Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway | Icelandic króna, Swiss franc, Norwegian krone |
| Other countries (11) | Albania, Andorra, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican City State | Euro in Andorra, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino and Vatican City; elsewhere a national currency |
Bulgaria has been in the euro-area row since 2026: according to the European Central Bank, the country has used the euro since that year. For a SEPA payment the country’s currency makes no difference, because the payment is always in euros. The currency does determine what the recipient gets: if they have an account in Swedish kronor, the recipient’s bank can convert the amount.
Territories that belong to SEPA
Besides the countries, the list names sixteen territories separately. Finland has Åland, Portugal the Azores and Madeira, Spain the Canary Islands. Under France are French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man belong with the United Kingdom. According to the EPC list, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man have their own BIC country code but a British IBAN.
The French overseas territories also have their own BIC country code and a French IBAN; Gibraltar has both its own BIC and its own IBAN country code, and pays in Gibraltar pounds. That the Canary Islands and the French overseas departments are included follows from the European treaty, according to the EPC: territories where the treaties apply in full are part of SEPA. For a transfer to such a territory you simply use the recipient’s IBAN.
Countries outside the EU and the EEA
The eleven countries outside the EEA are a mixed group. Switzerland, Monaco and San Marino joined between 2006 and 2013. Andorra and Vatican City use the euro, as do Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino. The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Albania, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia have their own currency. A payment in euros to those countries can go via SEPA; if the recipient wants to receive pounds or Swiss francs, their bank can convert the amount. According to the EPC, European rules such as the SEPA Regulation do not apply there fully and directly. Montenegro, incidentally, uses the euro without a monetary agreement with the EU, as the EPC notes.
New in the SEPA area
According to the EPC timeline, its board admitted Montenegro and Albania on 21 November 2024, with 5 October 2025 as the earliest start date. North Macedonia and Moldova followed on 6 March 2025, Serbia on 22 May of that year, with May 2026 as the earliest start. Earlier, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man joined in 2016 and Andorra and Vatican City in 2019. The United Kingdom stayed in the SEPA area after leaving the EU, from 1 February 2020. And Mayotte, already on the list, became an outermost region of the EU on 1 January 2014.
How a country joins SEPA
Outside the EU and the EEA, the EPC extends the SEPA area case by case. Under the EPC’s criteria, it is not a single bank that applies, but the community of banks from that country, for example through the central bank or the national banking association. It has to show that the European rules for payments in euros have been adopted in its own law, so that banks from that country take part on a level playing field with banks in the EU. The EPC names, among other things, the rules of the Payment Services Directive on information and rights for payments, the regulation on the information that accompanies a transfer and the technical requirements of the SEPA Regulation.
Only once the country is on the list can individual banks and institutions from there join the SEPA schemes. For Serbia, a year passed between admission on 22 May 2025 and the earliest start date in May 2026. After inclusion, according to the list, the EPC periodically checks whether a country outside the EEA still complies with the rules.
Does every bank in a SEPA country take part?
A country being on the list does not mean that every bank there takes part in every SEPA scheme. The EPC records per country how many institutions take part in the ordinary transfer, the instant transfer and the two kinds of direct debit, and those numbers differ per scheme. According to the overview of 9 October 2026, the new countries Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia now also have participating institutions.
For you as the payer, this means: an ordinary SEPA transfer to a country on the list works if the recipient’s bank takes part in that scheme. For an instant transfer it also depends on whether the recipient’s bank supports instant payments. If a payment does not go through, an international transfer can be the alternative.
SEPA area, EEA and euro area
Three terms get mixed up in practice, but they describe different groups. The euro area consists of the EU countries with the euro, twenty-one since 2026. The European Union has 27 member states, with and without the euro. The European Economic Area (EEA) is the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The SEPA area covers all of those, plus eleven countries outside them. So anyone talking about the countries of the SEPA zone means a larger group than the EEA.
The EEA has thirty countries, the SEPA area 41. Switzerland and the United Kingdom are in SEPA, but not in the EEA. The other way round: every EEA country is also a SEPA country. For the question of whether a transfer can go via SEPA, the SEPA list is the yardstick; for the question of which European rules apply, it is the EEA.
Recognising a SEPA country by the IBAN
Every IBAN starts with two letters: the country code under the international standard ISO 3166. The EPC list states for each country and territory which code appears in the IBAN. For most countries it is their own code, such as NL, BE or CH. For a number of territories it differs: an account in Réunion or Guadeloupe has a French IBAN starting with FR, an account in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man a British IBAN starting with GB. Gibraltar has its own IBAN country code, GI.
So the country code in an IBAN says something about where the account is, but not everything. If in doubt, look the code up in the list of SEPA countries and check whether the country or territory is on it. If it is not, the payment is not a SEPA transfer, even if the recipient has an IBAN.
Which countries are not in SEPA?
Anything not on the EPC list is outside the SEPA area. That also applies to countries that do use IBANs, such as Turkey or Ukraine: an IBAN alone does not make a country a SEPA country. Kosovo, which uses the euro, is not on it either. The Faroe Islands and Greenland are not on the list either, so they are not part of SEPA. Ceuta and Melilla do fall under Spain and Northern Ireland under the United Kingdom, even though they are not separate rows on the list. A payment to a country outside the list goes as an international transfer, with different processing times and costs.
Even within the SEPA area, not every payment is a SEPA payment. If you transfer money in Polish zloty or Swiss francs, that is not a SEPA transfer, because SEPA only works in euros. Whether a payment can go via SEPA therefore depends on two things: the recipient’s country and the currency you pay in.
What the SEPA area means for your payments
The scheme rules apply in all 41 countries, but European legislation does not apply everywhere. According to the EPC, the SEPA Regulation, no. 260/2012, only fully and directly applies to payments between institutions in the EU and the EEA. The European Central Bank names as examples the rules on equal charges for payments in euros and on interchange fees: these do not apply outside the EU and the EEA. A transfer to Switzerland or the United Kingdom therefore follows the same route, but not the same cost rules.
Within the Union, under article 9 of the SEPA Regulation, a client may not demand that your account is in a particular member state, and you may not demand that of a client or supplier either. Outside the EU and the EEA, that rule does not apply.
If you are unsure whether a payment can go via SEPA, check these points:
Paying in the SEPA area with Vivid
With a Vivid business account you make and receive SEPA payments in euros with a Dutch IBAN. According to the Vivid Help Centre and the plans, this is how it works:
Vivid in short: a Dutch IBAN for SEPA payments in euros, SEPA Instant where the other bank takes part and, from the Basic or Prime plan, international payments outside SEPA. Read more at Vivid Business.
SEPA payments with Vivid
A business account with a Dutch IBAN for SEPA payments in euros, and international payments beyond from the Basic or Prime plan.
Frequently asked questions
How many countries are in the SEPA area?
According to the EPC list of 24 December 2025, there are 41 countries: the 27 EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and eleven countries outside the EEA. The list also names sixteen territories separately.
Is Switzerland in SEPA?
Yes. Switzerland is on the list of SEPA countries, although it is not in the EU or the EEA. A payment in euros to Switzerland can therefore go via SEPA, but European rules such as equal charges do not apply there.
Is the United Kingdom still in SEPA?
Yes. According to the EPC, the United Kingdom stayed in the SEPA area after leaving the EU, from 1 February 2020. Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man also belong to it.
Is the SEPA area the same as the EEA?
No. The EEA consists of the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, thirty countries in all. The SEPA area covers those thirty and eleven more countries, such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Can you pay in euros to a SEPA country that has its own currency?
Yes. A SEPA payment is always in euros, also to Sweden or Poland, for example. If the recipient has an account in their own currency, their bank can convert the amount.
Are Jersey and Guernsey in SEPA?
Yes. The EPC list names Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man as territories of the SEPA area, since 2016. They have their own BIC country code, but a British IBAN.
Is Norway in SEPA?
Yes. Like Iceland and Liechtenstein, Norway is in the EEA and on the list of SEPA countries. A payment in euros to a Norwegian account can go via SEPA; if the recipient has an account in Norwegian kroner, they may receive the amount converted.
Which countries joined most recently?
Montenegro and Albania, admitted on 21 November 2024, North Macedonia and Moldova on 6 March 2025 and Serbia on 22 May 2025. For Serbia the EPC names May 2026 as the earliest start; according to the EPC overview of 9 October 2026, institutions there now take part.
This article provides general information and is not legal or financial advice. The list of countries and territories is that of the European Payments Council; the rules are as published by the European Central Bank and in Regulation (EU) No 260/2012, and may change. Vivid’s payment services are provided by Vivid Money S.A., an electronic money institution authorised and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg; its Dutch branch is registered with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as an electronic money institution.
