SEPA equals procrastination

While I agree that procrastination exists I don’t think you can blame the majority of banks, there is simply not a very good business case for SEPA and therefore the smaller banks are doing what they do, waiting for client demand or for regulation.  That does not mean I don’t think SEPA is a good idea, it is (and the whole world is watching in case it succeeds) it’s such a shame that the EU allowed the EPC (the large visionary banks) to implement SEPA in such a way that the business case is bias towards large payments processors with smaller banks handing over their business via outsourcing to their competitors, so its not surprising they have not embraced SEPA with both arms.  SEPA is turning into a case study on how not to modernize the banking system, at least the rest of the world will learn for it, but will we?

When it comes to SEPA adoption, it’s not really a matter of whether banks are small or large or even whether there’s a compelling business case in the very short term, but rather how banks see their payments business in the future. Those banks that see payments forming an integral part of their long-term strategy will make the effort to embrace SEPA much sooner than those who view payments as a commodity best outsourced. The business case for SEPA is more cogent if banks have a strategic vision for their payments in the first place.