The European Payments Council has postponed the planned 15 November 2026 end date for the unstructured address format under all five of its payment scheme rulebooks. Support for unstructured addresses will therefore continue beyond the previously announced deadline.
No replacement date has been set yet. The PSMB will reconvene in October 2026 to set a new end date based on the latest market and payment industry developments.
How the decision was reached
According to the EPC, the PSMB reviewed available datapoints from payment service provider (PSP) participants, clearing and settlement mechanisms (CSMs), and technical players. It also considered input from the EPC's community members and stakeholders. An EPC official described the postponement as a conscious decision and said the overall direction of the migration remains unchanged.
The announcement comes just over two months before the original cut-off. Scheme participants now have time beyond November 2026 to complete the transition, although the length of that extension will only become clear after the October meeting.
The EPC will revise all relevant scheme documentation to reflect the decision. This includes the 2025 payment scheme rulebooks, the implementation guidelines, and supporting guidance materials. The updated documentation is expected to be published by October 2026 at the latest.
Until then, the EPC will regularly monitor the uptake of the structured and hybrid address formats in SEPA transactions.
Structured addresses remain the target
The EPC has stated that the delay does not change its commitment to the adoption of structured addresses. The EPC payment schemes already support both the hybrid and the structured formats. Even so, the organisation continues to recommend that PSPs and payment service users move directly from unstructured to fully structured addresses wherever possible, rather than adopting the hybrid format as an intermediate step.
The EPC gives several operational reasons for this recommendation. Fully structured address data supports more efficient payment processing, stronger compliance and sanctions screening, more effective reconciliation, and higher levels of straight-through processing. For PSPs handling SEPA volumes, each of these areas affects operational cost and exposure to compliance risk.
The PSMB has strongly encouraged all EPC payment scheme participants to continue their migration work and keep their current implementation plans. Participants are also asked to increase their efforts to support and inform customers as they move away from unstructured addresses, preferably to the fully structured format.
Implications for scheme participants
The practical effect of the decision is a longer transition window, not a change in the end state. PSPs that were preparing for the November 2026 deadline are expected to continue on their existing plans. Customer readiness is likely to be the main area of focus, given the EPC's emphasis on participants supporting their users through the transition. The October 2026 PSMB meeting and the revised rulebooks that follow will set out the timeline the market must now work towards.
