04.12.2009 SEPA legal framework from the Swiss perspective
Expert attorney takes a look at the Swiss financial institutions' access to the SEPA market, which was enabled through legal comparison between Switzerland and the EU... more
04.12.2009 How secure is payment by SEPA direct debits?
Credit Suisse describes the security features that should promote the acceptance of this new payment instrument... more
04.12.2009 Does PSD increase competition?
The EU regulations governing payment services should make payment traffic as simple, efficient and secure as possible, and encourage competition. But the latter goal, especially, is questionable, as a new study now shows... more
04.12.2009 935 million
The Swiss payment route via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed SEPA credit transfers worth about 935 million euro in November – a monthly record... more
04.12.2009 “Payment cards between the PSD and SEPA”
Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy outlines the regulatory authorities' scope of action with regard to fostering the usage of cards as an efficient payment instrument... more
05.11.2009 Media release: First SEPA direct debits processed
SIX Group successfully launches the new pan-European direct debit scheme in Switzerland... more
05.11.2009 SEPA direct debits: New rulebook versions
Version 3.4 of the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook and the Version 1.3 of SEPA Business to Business Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook were approved by the European Payments Council (EPC) on 29 October... more
05.11.2009 SEPA credit transfers: New rulebook version
The new SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook, approved by the EPC on 29 October, replaces version 3.2 which is no longer valid... more
05.11.2009 Monthly transaction record
In October, the Swiss SEPA payment route via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed over 103,000 credit transfers – a record high transaction volume, which represents an increase of 10% in comparison to the last monthly record in September 2009... more
05.11.2009 New SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme participants
Banca Privata Edmond de Rothschild and the Cantonal Bank of Jura have registered with the Swiss NASO (National Adherence Support Organisation) for the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme and will be reachable for credit transfers as of December 2009.
05.11.2009 Consultation shows general support for end-date for SEPA migration
The results of the public consultation among public authorities, companies, banks, trade and bankers’ associations launched by the European Commission showed that a large majority of respondents support the idea of setting some deadlines (end-dates) to stimulate migration to SEPA credit transfers and direct debits. A majority of respondents also indicated their preference for an EU regulation so as to provide a clear signal to market participants that SEPA migration was now irreversible... more
05.10.2009 SECB and Equens sign agreement on SEPA interoperability
euroSIC system manager SECB Swiss Euro Clearing Bank and Equens, the Dutch-German payment processor, have signed an agreement on the implementation of a bilateral interoperability link for the exchange of SEPA credit transfers (SCT) at the Sibos in Hong Kong on September 16. It is the intention to go-live with SCT in the first quarter of 2010. In a further step it is planned to extend the agreement to the processing of SEPA direct debits... more
05.10.2009 Equens and VocaLink extend SEPA interoperability agreement
The British payment processor VocaLink and Equens announced on September 15 at Sibos that they have extended their bilateral agreement to include SEPA direct debit payment processing, in addition to the SEPA credit transfer service already offered... more
05.10.2009 New SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme participant
The Ticino bank BSI is the 155th financial institution that has registered with the Swiss NASO (National Adherence Support Organisation) for the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme and thus being reachable for credit transfers as of November 2009.
05.10.2009 Swiss institutions' SEPA participation from a legal point of view
The 3/2009 edition of the Swiss Review of Business and Financial Market Law features an article on the Swiss way of SEPA participation from a legal perspective. In order to be able to participate in the SEPA schemes, Swiss financial institutions had to provide evidence that the provisions of the Payments Services Directive (PSD) are implemented in Switzerland either by statutory law or based on a substantially equivalent binding practice. The Swiss financial institutions provided a legal opinion in which they analysed the respective provisions of the PSD by comparing Swiss law and Swiss practice with the PSD regulations. The outcome of this opinion is that Swiss statutory law and binding practice are substantially equivalent with the PSD. The comparative law of relevant payments standards in EU law and Swiss law is explored in this article in German... more
05.10.2009 Changes to German banks' GBCs
According to the Association of German Banks, the Payment Services Directive implementation in German law requires changes to general business terms and conditions and to specific terms and conditions of banks related to payment traffic. These changes affecting consumers and companies will take effect on October 31... more
05.10.2009 SEPA for IT providers
The European Payments Council (EPC) recently published the new brochure "SEPA for IT Providers", in which providers are asked to make available new cost efficient products and services that facilitate rapid and low risk migration to SEPA for banks and their customers such as businesses and public administrations... more
05.10.2009 "A single market for cards: the missing piece in the SEPA puzzle"
In her speech on 9 September in Paris, the ECB Executive Board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell stressed that the current stagnation in the work underlying the SEPA Cards Framework (SCF) needs to be overcome by tackling problems on three main fronts. The three problem areas have to do with the business rules for SCF, the technical standards (that is, card and terminal specifications, applications, messages and protocols) and finally with the launch of one or more new European card schemes... more
05.10.2009 European Commission presents actions to make SEPA a success
On 10 September, the European Commission adopted a roadmap for 2009-2012 providing a framework for action within six priority areas where greater involvement of all relevant actors is required in order to achieve the full implementation of SEPA... more
08.09.2009 More Swiss SEPA Direct Debit Scheme participants
Credit Suisse, Credit Suisse (Deutschland), Neue Aargauer Bank and Clariden Leu have submitted the necessary application documents for SEPA Direct Debit Scheme participation to the Swiss NASO (National Adherence Support Organisation). That means that six Swiss financial institutions in total will be able to process standardized euro direct debits starting from November 2009... more
08.09.2009 Banks using SIX Group's SEPA Direct Debit Service
The first financial institutions will be participating in the Europe-wide SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme through SIX Group's SEPA Direct Debit Service as of November 2009... more
08.09.2009 Three new SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme participants
Swisscanto Funds Centre Ltd., the first institution from abroad, E. Gutzwiller & Cie Banquiers and Banque Piguet & Cie will be shortly reachable for SEPA credit transfers via the Swiss SEPA payment route via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2.
08.09.2009 Most recent ECB analysis on SEPA
Daniela Russo, who took over from Jean-Michel Godeffroy as Director General Payments and Market Infrastructure at the European Central Bank in August 2009, gave an account of the progress made on SEPA and identified the main challenges in a speech at a European Payments Council conference... more
10.08.2009 First SEPA Direct Debit Scheme participants
UBS and PostFinance are the first two Swiss financial institutions having confirmed their participation in the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme. Starting November 2009, they will be able to process euro direct debits with the Europe-wide introduction of the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme... more
10.08.2009 Grace period for reachability compliance
According to the European Payments Council (EPC), in principle, a scheme participant must ensure that all its branches located in SEPA are reachable as a debtor bank for SEPA direct debits. To maximize the volume of customer accounts reachable for collections, in July 2009 the EPC stated that there will be a one-year grace period for prospective scheme participants to achieve compliance by branches. This measure limits the risk that multi-country banks operating an extensive branch network across SEPA refrain from adhering to the SEPA Direct Debit Schemes by the launch date due to the fact that not all branches may be reachable by 2 November 2009... more
10.08.2009 Monaco is part of SEPA
The Principality of Monaco became the 32nd country of the Single Euro Payments Area... more
10.08.2009 European associations not satisfied
A coordination body set up by European business and consumer organisations (EUC – End User Committee) is unsatisfied with SEPA. In a media release in July it particularly criticized that the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme offered fewer services than the existing national schemes... more
10.08.2009 SEPA for consumers
The EPC recently published the new brochure "SEPA for Consumers"... more
10.08.2009 ISO 20022 impact
The EPC highlights the impact of the global ISO 20022 message standards on the payments sector in general and details the particular benefits of ISO 20022 for the corporate and public sectors in SEPA... more
14.07.2009 First SEPA card payments standard
Major players in the European card payments industry have joined together to deliver the first common standard for payment terminals. As Swiss active participant, SIX Card Solutions has been involved in this initiative since 2003. This innovation offers new opportunities for retailers and acquirers across Europe and is a big step to making SEPA a reality for card payments. This standard is now available for consultation under the title "Financial Application Specification for SCF Compliant EMV Terminals".... more
14.07.2009 SEPA direct debit glossary in three languages
The SIX Interbank Clearing glossary is listing over 50 technical terms with their definitions in English, French and German... more
14.07.2009 New B2B Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook version
The new version 1.2 was published by the European Payments Council (EPC) on July 2... more
14.07.2009 Credit transfers edge up again
Last month the Swiss SEPA payment route via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed over 91,800 transactions valued at more than 800 million euro – the second-best result since the SEPA credit transfer launch in January 2008... more
14.07.2009 Italian translation of the SEPA Direct Debit Mandate
The European Payments Council (EPC) published the translation referring to the SDD Rulebook, page 63, which is applicable to Switzerland and Italy... more
23.06.2009 Media release: "Swiss-made" direct debits for Europe
SIX Group launches new SEPA service for the European market... more
23.06.2009 SEPA Direct Debit Schemes participation process launch
Starting now, financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein can sign up for SEPA Direct Debit Schemes via the Swiss National Adherence Support Organisation... more
23.06.2009 Creditor Identifier for SEPA direct debits
Applications for issuing Creditor Identifiers can be made online by financial institutions... more
23.06.2009 ISO Payments: Recommendations of the Swiss financial industry for data exchange
Featuring the "Swiss Implementation Guideline", which serves as instructions for the technical implementation of the formats and provides supports for the realization of the individual format options. It contains a detailed description of the XML structures and validation rules... more
23.06.2009 French translation of the SEPA Direct Debit Mandate
The European Payments Council (EPC) pusblished the translation referring to the SDD Rulebook, page 63, which is applicable to Switzerland, France and Luxemburg... more
05.05.2009 Revised Directive 2560/2001 and new E-Money Directive
On April 24, the European Parliament adopted two legislative proposals revising the current rules governing cross-border payments and the conditions for issuing electronic money in the EU. Both legal texts will now be forwarded to the EU Council for final adoption... more
05.05.2009 SEPA B2B Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook consultation
The rulebook has been updated by the European Payments Council (EPC) to include the optional e-mandate feature and is open for public consultation until 14 May 2009... more
05.05.2009 SEPA direct debits: The French way
After having put SEPA direct debit on hold at the end of November 2008, the French central bank, the Banking Federation and the National SEPA Committee announced on 29 April that the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme would be launched in France on 1 November 2010... more
05.05.2009 ECB indicator for SEPA credit transfers
The European Central Bank monitors the share of SEPA credit transfers in the interbank domain as a percentage of the total volume of credit transfers... more
05.05.2009 SEPA Direct Debit Scheme: New rulebook versions
As of April 3 and 7, the new version 3.3 of the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook and the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme Customer-to-Bank Implementation Guidelines have been published... more
02.04.2009 Communications plan for SEPA direct debits
Overview of the planned communication program for SEPA direct debits in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
02.04.2009 SEPA direct debits – datasheets
The Swiss Payments Council has created two datasheets for the Swiss and Liechtenstein financial institutions that intend to participate in the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme. Financial institutions can use these datasheets as a basis to inform their creditors and debtors about SEPA direct debits... more
02.04.2009 New monthly transaction record
Last month the Swiss SEPA payment route via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed over 93,000 credit transfers – a record high transaction volume, which represents an increase of 20% in comparison to last December... more
02.04.2009 EPC launches SEPA Direct Debit Schemes in November
According to the latest media release by the European Payments Council (EPC) the European banking industry confirms that as of 1 May 2009 it will be possible for banks to sign up for participation in the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme and / or the SEPA Business to Business Direct Debit Scheme. Banks would therefore be able to start delivering euro direct debit services as of 2 November 2009... more
02.04.2009 Updated SEPA Testing Framework
This EPC document has been updated to support the launch versions of the SEPA Direct Debit Rulebooks... more
04.03.2009 Bull’s-eye for Swiss SEPA direct debits
Starting no later than November 2009, Swiss and Liechtenstein financial institutions will be able to process SEPA direct debits... more
04.03.2009 Three new Swiss SEPA participants
Bank EEK, bank zweiplus and Crédit Agricole Financements (Suisse) joined the SEPA credit transfer scheme at the beginning of March, pushing up the total number of participating banks from Switzerland and Liechtenstein to more than 150.
04.03.2009 Transaction figures for February
Last month the Swiss SEPA payment route euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed over 71,000 transactions with a total value of around 560 million euro... more
04.03.2009 SWIFT and SEPA
How is the network provider positioning itself in the Single Euro Payments Area? First-hand answers to this and other questions from SWIFT CEO Lázaro Campos... more
04.03.2009 SEPA card payments
A draft of the SEPA Cards Framework Standardisation Volume (version 3.1) has been published by the EPC... more
02.02.2009 Announcement: Payment traffic expert seminar
An expert seminar on the topic of SEPA will take place as part of the Swiss Banking Operations Forum on March 25, 2009. It will include a panel with representatives from international payment service providers who will discuss future prospects for payment traffic... more
02.02.2009 The new SEPA year starts off well
The Swiss SEPA payment route euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed over 64,000 transactions with a total value of around 620 million euro in January... more
02.02.2009 New version of the SCT Rulebook
To meet legal trademark requirements, a new version (2.31) of the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook was published without having an impact on the version 3.2 validity... more
02.02.2009 New version of the SDD Rulebook
Version 3.2 of the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook was published by the EPC... more
02.02.2009 SDD Implementation Guidelines
The EPC has published the definitive Customer-to-Bank implementation Guidelines for the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme, version 3.2... more
02.02.2009 New EPC guide
"Making SEPA a Reality – The definitive Guide to the Single Euro Payments Area", is the title of the new 50-page information brochure published by the European Payments Council. The comprehensible publication presents the advantages of the SEPA instruments for each stakeholder group... more
02.02.2009 SEPA Survey 2008
Entitled “The SEPA Survey 2008 – a study on the awareness of and readiness for SEPA amongst corporates and public organizations in the euro area", Atos Consulting and Deloitte looked into how well known SEPA is. The analysis was based on 185 evaluated questionnaires from companies and the public sector in nine EU countries... more
05.01.2009 End of year catch-up
The Swiss SEPA payment channel via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 hit record high 78,000 transactions totaled around 830 million euro in value in December. Thus, both transaction volume and value increased thus by 25 and 43 percent respectively over the previous month... more
05.01.2009 Three new Swiss SEPA participants
Raiffeisen Schweiz, Banca Gesfid and Volksbank AG have joined the SEPA credit transfer scheme on January 5, pushing up the total number of Swiss and Liechtenstein participants to nearly 150.
