To realize the benefits of uniform SEPA payment instruments for your business, you need to upgrade existing payment applications as a first step. If your company plans to set up a SEPA implementation project, several features of the SEPA schemes and standards will also have an impact on internal processes.

The following aspects, among others, need to be considered:

IBAN AND BICI

BAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code) will be the only permissible account and bank identifiers for SEPA transactions. Whereas until now they have been used only for cross-border payments in most countries, with SEPA they apply to national payments as well. The paying customer must provide IBAN to identify the beneficiary's account and should provide the related BIC to his bank unless otherwise agreed with the bank.

DIRECT DEBIT COLLECTIONS: THE SEPA MANDATE

The SEPA Direct Debit Scheme defines the requirements regarding the authorization of a creditor to collect direct debits; it also details the requirements to be observed by the debtor bank to debit the account of a debtor. In many SEPA countries, such authorizations – or mandates – previously issued by debtors and in place today do not conform to the requirements of the SEPA mandate.

UNIFI (ISO 20022) XML MESSAGE STANDARD

A common data format used by all parties in a payment transaction is essential for the cost-efficient handling of billions of payments. The realization of SEPA therefore requires agreement on a common set of data to be exchanged in a common syntax.