As of 1 May 2016, the three islands of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, known as British Crown dependencies, will be incorporated into the geographical scope of the Single euro payments area (Sepa) and will have to implement Sepa schemes for financial transactions. Payment service providers on the three islands will have until that date to implement the infrastructure and software to process Sepa credit transfers and direct debits, in line with other countries participating in Sepa.

According to the European Payments Council, the body responsible for delivery of the Sepa frameworks and payment schemes as requested by the EU's banking and political authorities, the existing scheme participants and other technical players will have sufficient time to adapt their systems during the three-month period up to 1 May 2016.

Expanding number of Sepa territories

There are 34 countries in the Single euro payments area and five of them (Finland, France, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom) have territories that also operate within the Sepa framework. The total number of territories will be 16 when the British Crown dependencies are added on 1 May. The map below gives details: