January 20, 2014 - New statistics released by the European Central Bank (ECB) show that migration to the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) gathered pace strongly in December.

According to the latest figures provided by national central banks, 74% of credit transfers in the euro area were already Sepa-compliant at the end of December (from 64% in November). For direct debits, the figure stands at 41%, a steep increase from the 26% registered in November.

The Eurosystem of central banks is resisting calls from the European Commission to add an extra six months grace period to the original February 2014 timetable for full migration to Sepa.

The Commission's proposals - which have to be agreed by both the European Council and European parliament - were based on statistics from November that showed migration rates of 64.1% for SCT and 26% for SDD.

In releasing the latest figures, the ECB says that, "if the current pace of migration continues, the vast majority of stakeholders will complete their migration by 1 February 2014".

The central bank is urging all market participants to continue their current migration pace and to complete the transition of all credit transfer and direct debit transactions to the Sepa standards in line with the original timetable.