Bank transfers in France will soon be paused for a few days
The European payment system will take a break for Easter
Bank account transfers will be paused over Easter, as happens every year
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Bank transfers in France and across the Eurozone will be paused from Friday, April 18 to Monday, April 21 this year, as it will be Easter weekend.
The transfer pause applies to all SEPA countries (Single Euro Payments Area), because the payment system used by the European Union and SEPA area, called Target 2, will temporarily go offline for the duration.
Target 2 is managed by the European Central Bank (ECB).
In practice, this means that if you make a bank transfer after 16:30 on Friday, April 18 or any of the days ‘off’, it will not reach the recipient’s bank account until the morning of Tuesday, April 22.
The Easter pause is the longest of the year, the ECB states. Target 2 is also non-operational on New Year’s Day, May 1, and December 25 and 26, and does not work at night or on weekends.
The pause applies to:
The pause does not apply to:
Instant bank transfers that you can do yourself online or via a smartphone app for free
Transfers within the same bank, even between different people’s bank accounts or your own savings accounts
Instant bank transfers are fast, but they cannot - in contrast to SEPA transfers - be recalled or cancelled.
Which countries are in the SEPA zone?
Despite no longer being part of the EU, the UK is still in the SEPA zone.
In fact, most EU countries are part of the SEPA zone, and so are the non-EU countries of:
Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, Andorra, Monaco, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and the UK.
The countries that nominally use the euro but are not in the SEPA zone are Kosovo and Montenegro.
Albania, Belarus, Turkey, and Ukraine use the IBAN (international bank account number) system, but are not members of SEPA.
