Susana, a Portugese-born public affairs consultant who works in Belgium, has mixed feelings about the promises made for SEPA.

On the one hand, she can see practical benefits which the initiative, together with the development of electronic banking, will create as she juggles property ownership in two countries. On the other, she cautions that this is only part of the picture when it comes to cross-border living, and that other rules - from tax to mortgage lending conditions - still pose substantial barriers.