The fight against fraud will be pursued by migration to EMV technology and by the use of the PIN, while standardization of technological processes in the European payment cards industry will permit a reduction, at first gradual and later complete, in the technical/applicative and regulatory specifics of the various domestic circuits of European Union countries for payment and withdrawal operations.

The SEPA Card Framework has identified the possible options that banks will have at their disposal in order to be SEPA compliant, in particular:

• option 1 - international circuit, namely the adoption of one or more SEPA-compliant international circuits in place of the domestic circuit;
• option 2 - pan-domestic or pan-European, which provides for the evolution of the domestic circuit towards a SEPA-compliant model, either singly or through an alliance between domestic schemes;
• option 3 - co-branding, which enables banks to opt for a co-branding solution of an international circuit with a domestic circuit, both SEPA-compliant.

To support its banks in defining and implementing its roadmap towards SEPA, SIA Group, in its role as independent processor, is setting up an activity plan with the dual objective of developing and consolidating the SEPA solutions offered by the Co.Ge.Ban (Bancomat and Pagobancomat), Visa (VPay) and MasterCard (Maestro) circuits, aligning them with the latest respective standards, and of implementing the pan-domestic solution based on the specifications and rules defined by EAPS (Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes).

In addition, SIA guarantees its banks constant participation in the standardization activities of the EPC Card Working Group (CIR, CAS, Eridane, etc.).