SEPA - Update May 2012

With immense pressure on the last few miles to run to meet the SEPA timelines, current few interesting challenges faced by banks are common but still time and money consuming. Recently, EBA Day had varied but quite interesting perspectives or gossips around Migration Timelines, Finally ACI or S1, MyBank launch, Wallet/Mobile and the favorite Innovation.
Understanding the Jigsaw, with various ECs, how will changes to internal systems affect across:
- Regulation 1781/2006: Payer Information to accompany transfers
- Regulation 260/2012: EU-wide requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro including Mandate Management
- Regulation 924/2009: Eliminates the differences in charges for cross-border and national payments in euro
- Payment Service Directive 2007/64: Right on Information, Transparancy and obligation
- Other Directives like 2000/46/E, 2006/48/EC, 2009/44/EC and 2009/110/EC

Apart from understanding the impact and implementing the required changes across business, processes and IT systems, the challenge which lies ahead is having a common interpretation of the regulation 260/2012.
To provide complementary services based on the scheme againstAdditional Optional Services (AOS), how innovative banks can become post complying with above regulations and what new products they can offer.

To realize SEPA for cards, as highlighted by Green Paper on Card, Internet and mobile, we still have a long way ahead.