The EPC welcomes the creation of the European Cards Stakeholders Group

15 September 2016

The European Cards Stakeholders Group (ECSG), is happy to announce the creation of this new multi-stakeholder association dedicated to the promotion of card harmonisation in the Single Euro Payments Area.

Built on the foundations of the Cards Stakeholders Group (CSG), which was created by the European Payments Council (EPC) in 2009 and has now reached maturity, the ECSG is taking over the CSG’s mission. The transformation of the CSG into the ECSG, with the formal legal status of an international not-for-profit association, reinforces the commitment from the five industry sectors which were already represented in the CSG:

• the retailers/wholesale
• the vendors (cards, payment devices, related IT systems)
• the processors of card transactions
• the card schemes
• and payment service providers, represented by the EPC

In total, the ECSG gathers 32 organisations, plus four observers, including the European Commission and the European Central Bank, which have supported the creation of this new association.

The main mission of the ECSG is to develop and maintain the SEPA Cards Standardisation Volume (the Volume), a key document for the card industry, defining guidelines for card standardisation, interoperability and security in Europe. In addition, the ECSG will promote conformance to the Volume, which is a self-regulatory initiative. 

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