Almost half of European banks expect it to take over five years to replace payments-related revenue lost following the introduction of the European Union's single euro payments area (Sepa), while 13% say they will never be able to recover the lost revenue, according to a poll by e-payments outfit Fundtech.
Fundtech says an anonymous survey of 57 European banking executives conducted earlier this year found that 63% feel the impact of Sepa will be "considerable" on their firm's profits, with 44% predicting it will take longer than five years to replace the lost revenue resulting from the Sepa pricing mandates.
However, the Fundtech study found that the majority of banks - 78% - have already purchased or built a system for Sepa credit transfers, while 83% have bought or built a system for Sepa direct debits.
The survey also found that the majority of participants - 61% - view electronic invoice presentment and payments (EIPP) as an opportunity to both generate revenue and save costs.
Over the third (38%) of participants said between a quarter and half of their customers will adopt the EIPP service over the next three years, while 15 percent believe that over 505% of customers will adopt the technology.
Commenting no the findings, George Ravich, chief marketing officer, Fundtech, says: "The participants forecast revenue challenges with Sepa that may never be reconciled, but they also see short-term opportunity with the growth of EIPP."
A 2006 report from CapGemini, ABN Amro and Efma warned that Sepa could could reduce payments-related revenues for banks by between 38% and 62% in some parts of the market by 2012.
Opportunites for banks and corporates following the implementation of Sepa willl be discussed at this year's EBAday, the annual European payments forum held by Finextra Research and the Euro Banking Association (EBA).
More than 400 representatives from banks and 200 leading corporates will gather for the two-day event - which kicks off off on Wednesday 25th June the Marina Congress Centre, Helsinki - to examine ways in which both banks and corporates can prosper the single euro payments area.