PRIMERJALNA ANALIZA UVEDBE ENOTNEGA EVRO PLAČILNEGA OBMOČJA MED SLOVENIJO IN BELGIJO - Iljevec, Nejc (N. Iljevec, 2014)
SEPA ali enotno evro plačilno območje je projekt harmonizacije izvedbe in procesiranja plačil malih vrednosti v evrih. Cilj SEPA je narediti plačila v evrih hitra, varna in učinkovita po celi Evropi, kot je to prej veljalo za posamezne nacionalne trge. SEPA tako omogoča izvajanje brezgotovinskih plačil vsakomur, ki se nahaja kjerkoli v Evropi. Izvajanje brezgotovinskih plačil je možno s produkti SEPA. Ti so SEPA kreditna plačila, SEPA direktne obremenitve in SEPA kartice, v pripravi pa so tudi novi, sodobnejši produkti. Pred uvedbo SEPA je bil evropski trg razdrobljen in neučinkovit. Čezmejna plačila so bila počasna in zelo draga v primerjavi s plačili na nacionalnih trgih. Glavni premik k združitvi trgov je predstavljala uvedba skupne valute – evro. A z uvedbo enotnega evro gotovinskega območja potrošniki negotovinskih plačil znotraj skupnega evropskega trga niso mogli izvajati tako preprosto, kot je bilo to v navadi v njihovi državi. Zato je bil obvezen in logičen korav vzpostavitev SEPA, ki omogoča preprosto, hitro, varno in učinkovito uporabo elektronskih plačil malih vrednosti. S projektom SEPA je skupni evropski trg postal veliko konkurenčnejši. V tem delu smo natančneje preučili uvedbo SEPA v dveh državah Evropske skupnosti. Ti sta Slovenija in Belgija. Uvedbo SEPA smo primerjali z vidika organizacije projekta in uvedbe treh glavnih produktov SEPA. Prav tako smo se osredotočili na plačilno infrastrukturo, ki je obvezen pogoj za uspešnost SEPA. Na področju plačilne infrastrukture smo ugotovili največje razlike med obravnavanima državama. Na osnovi primerjalne analize smo ugotavljali, v kateri izmed obravnavanih držav je bila uvedba SEPA hitrejša ter kakšna je bila pri tem pomembnost plačilne infrastrukture in podpora bank. Na osnovi dokumentov Evropske komisije (European Commission) in drugih avtorjev smo pojasnili vzroke za precejšnje časovno zaostajanje uvedbe SEPA in prestavitev končnega datuma. V tem delu smo prišli do zaključkov, da je uvedba SEPA v Sloveniji potekala hitreje kot v Belgiji, kljub razlikam v sami organizaciji projekta, ki je bila v Sloveniji veliko bolj nestabilna in spremenljiva. Iz analize in podatkov je razvidno, da je bančni sektor v Sloveniji zavzet za spremembe in zna zelo hitro odreagirati na področju prilagajanja. Njegova prednost se v primerjavi z belgijskim bančnim sektorjev kaže v majhnosti slovenskega bančnega sektorja. Ugotovljeno je bilo tudi, da sta bili obe obravnavani državi med prvimi, ki sta uspešno zaključili prehod na SEPA na področju SEPA kreditnih plačil in SEPA direktnih obremenitev. Uspešnost projekta SEPA pa je odvisna predvsem od plačilne infrastrukture in podpore bank. SEPA or The Single Euro Payments Area is a project to harmonize the way we implement and process retail payments in euro. SEPA's goal is to make payments in euro throughout the Europe as fast, safe and efficient as it was in particular national markets in the past. SEPA enables customers to make cashless euro payments to anyone located anywhere in Europe, by using SEPA credit transfer, SEPA direct debits and SEPA cards. Also, payment innovations and new, modern products are in preparation. Before the implementation of SEPA European market was fragmented and inefficient. Cross-border payments were slow and very expensive compared to payments in national markets. The main shift to the unification of markets was the adoption of a single currency – the euro. However, with the implementation of the single euro cash area consumers of non-cash payments within the European market could not use it as easily as they could in their country. Therefore, it was mandatory and logical to create SEPA, which allows simple, fast, safe and effective use of electronic retail payments. The European market has become much more competitive with the creation of SEPA. In this master’s thesis, we examined the implementation of SEPA in two countries of the European Union, Slovenia and Belgium. We compared the implementation of SEPA in terms of the organization of the project and the implementation of three main SEPA products. Moreover, we focused on the payment infrastructure, which is a mandatory for the success of SEPA. We also noted a significant difference between Slovenia and Belgium in the field of payment infrastructure. Based on a comparative analysis, we determined the speed of implementing SEPA in the two countries concerned. Also, we determined the importance of the payment infrastructure and support of banks while introducing SEPA in both countries. Based on the documents of the European Commission and other authors, we explained the reasons for the considerable setback of SEPA implementation and the suspense date. We came to the conclusion that the implementation of SEPA was faster in Slovenia, despite the fact that the organization of the project was much more unstable and variable in Slovenia than in Belgium. Analysis and data show that the banking sector in Slovenia is open to changes and adapts. Its advantage in comparison with the Belgian banking sector is its small size. Also, we found that both countries concerned were among the first that successfully completed the migration toward SEPA in the field of SEPA credit transfers and SEPA Direct Debit. It was noted that the success of the SEPA project depends largely on the payment infrastructure and support of banks.