Monday 25th March, 2013

The European Central Bank (ECB) has reported on the migration towards the Single European Payments Area (SEPA). The report looks at the state of play of the migration process in euro area countries towards the creation of a single market for credit transfers and direct debits cross Europe while also providing guidance.

The project is now entering a critical stage as end-users have less than 11 months to ensure that their payment orders are made according to the SEPA payment instruments so they're are not refused by payment service providers. The deadline for migration to SEPA credit transfers and SEPA direct debits is February 2014.

Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB said: “Adapting to SEPA involves adjusting a lot of technical and business procedures over a limited period of time. Projects of this kind should not be left to the last moment.”

He added: “I hope that all stakeholders will take migration to SEPA Payment instruments as a top priority.”

The report shows that most corporations have already completed the planning phase and know what SEPA will mean for them in practical terms. However, when it comes to the actual implementation, a number of companies have adopted very late internal deadlines, even as far out as the end of 2013.

Late migration is highly undesirable as many technical details need to be reflected in end-users’ back-office systems and internal processes. In some cases, companies could even face the risk of some level of disruption in their handling of payment orders.

To avoid such risks, payment service providers should make customer servicing channels ready for SEPA transactions as soon as possible (and no later than the second quarter of 2013), and should also devote sufficient resources to familiarise end-users with technical, business and contractual issues related to migration to the SEPA schemes.