Cross-border money transfers have become significantly cheaper since an EU regulation on cross-border euro payments was introduced in 2001, the European Commission said in a report on Thursday.

A cross-border transfer of 100 euros, which would have cost around 24 euros in 2001, now costs an average of 2.50 euros, the paper said.

The commission says that the new rules have provided banks with an incentive to develop and invest more in an EU-wide payments infrastructure.

"This EU action has brought real benefits to consumers," said European Union (EU) internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

"The price of cross-border payments has reduced dramatically in many countries, but - contrary to what had been feared - the price of domestic payments has not gone up," he said.

McCreevy also praised a project by European banks to create a "single euro payments area," which will treat all euro payments as though they were domestic.

"By using fully automated payment systems that are of lower cost, this project has enormous potential to bring about huge savings and we fully support it," he said.

The 2001 regulation gave consumers a guarantee that when they make a payment in euros to an account in another EU member state, it will cost the same as a payment made within their own country.

Consumers need only provide the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and Bank Identifier Code (BIC) of the person, who they are transferring the money to. As of Jan. 1, 2006, the regulation applied to payments of up to 50,000 euros.

The regulation covers payment card transactions and withdrawals from cash machines since July 2002 and credit transfers since July 2003.

Source: Xinhua