Up to this point it has been recognised that facilitating the transition of millions of market participants to harmonised SEPA payment schemes and technical standards requires allowing for a degree of flexibility. The SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) Schemes, developed by the European Payments Council (EPC) in close dialogue with all stakeholders, also reflect this fact.

 

Dialogue with stakeholders across SEPA frequently demonstrates that the requirements of bank customers, with regard to the SEPA payment schemes, differ widely across and within the various customer segments and SEPA countries. The SCT and SDD Schemes, therefore, today include mandatory elements to be observed by all adhering payment service providers (PSPs) as well as optional elements allowing PSPs to offer specific features in response to market demand.

 

At the same time, the EU lawmaker has provided EU Member States with options to derogate, during a transitional period, from certain provisions included with the ‘Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro’, which sets out SEPA compliance requirements applicable to euro credit transfers and direct debits.

 

In this blog, Jean-Yves Jacquelin, Chair of the EPC SEPA Payment Schemes Working Group,  provides an overview of variations possible in SEPA today. With migration to SCT and SDD in the euro area nearly complete, the question is whether a majority of stakeholders is willing to relinquish – at least in the mid-term – any (or even all) of the options, exceptions, exemptions and variations currently available in favour of further harmonisation.

 

Full blog post