30 November 2011

EPC: SEPA for all - what customers want

The EPC is happy to share lessons learnt with the European Commission on how to align the SEPA Schemes with proven market needs.

Each annual EPC scheme change management cycle demonstrates that the requirements of payment service users in the 32 SEPA countries differ widely across and within the various customer segments. Payment service users are not only divided into payers and payees (whose payment needs are different), but also encompass a wide range of interest groups including consumers, public administrations, corporates and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Corporates and SMEs may be active domestically, regionally or globally, which translates into diverse expectations with regard to the SCT and SDD Schemes. In a multi-country environment such as SEPA, even within a specific Europe-wide customer segment there are opposing or mutually exclusive schools of thought as to which specific features should be included in the SEPA Schemes or not. Consequently, it is virtually impossible to translate the expectations of each and every single interest group into mandatory elements of the SEPA Schemes.

It is a standard EPC exercise to bridge different customer expectations throughout the painstaking process of forging agreements on the countless technical and procedural details that make up a European payment scheme. To ensure broad market acceptance, EPC scheme design has adhered to the following principles: the basic scheme model must meet the proven requirements of the majority of payment service users. At the same time, the model must be flexible enough to include optional extras on demand. This concept provides maximum choice to customers while avoiding that a majority of customers have to buy features that they do not need.

Full information

© EPC