Despite best efforts by the European Union to create the illusion of forming a united front, things are vastly different when it comes to financial matters. On the one hand, there is the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) where users can send bank transfers to each other in a matter of mere minutes. From a convenience point of view, this is a major improvement compared to waiting for a handful of days for funds to clear.
But at the same time, the SEPA zone only represents a fraction of Europe, and a lot of countries do not have access to this instant bank transfer scheme. In the United Kingdom, for example, there is a separate project called Faster Payments, which promises to clear payments immediately between parties.
Even though the United Kingdom is “attached” to the European Union, they do not use the Euro, nor do they have access to the SEPA scheme. This creates a very fractured financial ecosystem where various payment methods are competing with each other instead of communicating to create an improved user experience.
The proposals by the European Payments Council would alleviate some of these worries, as it would create a credit transfer payment instrument – denominated in Euro – for the 34 SEPA countries. But there are several issues that still need to be addressed, as the transfers are not as fast as they could be in their current form.
But that is not the only concern, as the third-party clearing and settlement agencies will need to approve this proposal as well. Faster transfers would mean more work for those parties while having less opportunity to scalp some interest from holding on to the funds. If everything goes according to plan, a result can be expected by November 2016.
http://themerkle.com/news/fractured-european-payment-system-creates-opportunity-for-bitcoin/
