Euros paid into a Barclays Sterling Account

System

borderfox wrote: »

this ... seems to suggest that SEPA applies to sterling to sterling SEPA credit transfers also

No. The Single Euro(pean) Payment Area includes all EU countries, plus Switzerland, and is a creature of the banks, working together through the European Payments Council, in response to pressure from EC directives and the European Central Bank. The banks have set up automated pan-European clearing houses for transfers of euro with the SEPA. These will, the ECB hopes, eventually replace domestic clearing houses in the eurozone (because it is wasteful to operate pan-European and domestic clearing in parallel).
http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/
EC regulation 924/2009 currently requires every bank in the EU to charge the same for domestic and cross-border transfers of euro and Swedish kronor. Because there is (currently) no domestic system (other than a legacy SWIFT transfer) for transferring euro within the UK, 924/2009 has little or no effect in the UK. Brown-Blair could have decided (and Cameron-Clegg could decide now) to apply EC 924/2009 to transfers of GBP, but chose (and choose) not to, because it would annoy the banks.
The payment services directive is more general. It imposes transparency in charges for all payment services (including direct debits and card transactions). In the European Commission's mind (though the banks would not necessarily agree) it provides a legal backup for the SEPA. The PSD does not, AFAIK, specify the level of any charges.
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/framework/index_en.htm

borderfox_2

Ok - thanks Young Nick. Regrettably, I can see that what your saying is 100% now.

Let me approach things from a different direction.

How easy is it for a personal banking customer to open a euro account alongside their existing current account in any of the high street banks? Are there costs associated with it?