OREANDA-NEWS. June 29, 2007. SEPA set to launch in 2008. RZB initiates information campaign. Payments are easier, quicker and more efficient

From the beginning of 2008, a new era will begin for European payment transactions. A total of 31 European countries, including all EU Members, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, have agreed on a joint procedure and thus moved to create a uniform Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). "SEPA is a logical consequence of introducing the euro," said Manfred Url, member of the managing board responsible for transaction services at RZB. "If we look at adopting the euro as the first step, we can view SEPA as the second step. In the future, transactions will not only be carried out using a single currency, they will also be handled according to a single set of uniform procedures."

Starting today, RZB is launching a broad-based information campaign for its customers in order to ensure a smooth transition to the SEPA systems. Discussing the timeframe for SEPA, Gonther Gall, head of the transaction services department at RZB, explained "We have been working intensely on the preparations for more than three years. Now, all the systems are ready for operation and all we need to do is to inform our customers." A SEPA Symposium is held today at RZB to get the ball rolling for the information campaign. About 90 customers will attend this information event which will provide a comprehensive overview on all aspects of SEPA.

SEPA embodies the European Union's goal of creating of single European payments area, with uniform products, rules and systems, in order to strengthen Europe's competitiveness. European consumers will benefit from the uniform legal framework and standardized products, which will replace the national payment systems and the various legal frameworks. SEPA features standardized technical formats for transfers, collection orders and card payments. By 2010, the current multitude of regional technical formats will have disappeared for the most part. The launch date for SEPA is January 2008, from then on, the new standards will be applied, starting with transfers. The new SEPA collection procedures are scheduled for launch from November 2009.

Easier for customers

The massive scope of new regulations such as SEPA becomes clear when one looks at the details on payment transactions: some 73 billion electronic transfers by 470 million people in Europe will be handled in the SEPA-area every year. Throughout Europe, there are 9,000 banks and 326,000 automatic banking machines which are affected by these new regulations. With SEPA, payments will be easier, quicker and more efficient.

SEPA will make payment transactions easier and faster for customers compared to the current status of national and pan-European payments. Right now, there are as many payment systems in Europe as there are countries. Thanks to SEPA, these systems will be merged into a uniform framework and at the same time standardized rules for handling payments will be introduced. Banks are planning on offering their customers the new pan-European SEPA instruments for transfers, collections and credit or debit cards from January 2008 in order to make payments in the EU as quick, easy and cheap as domestic payments.