01.12.2008 Germany, Austria, Switzerland – All under one UNIFI roof
An informal SEPA working group with representatives from the three German-speaking countries has been established. Already during the first workshop in mid-October, the potential for synergies was identified. In January, the standardization experts will meet in the German capital.... more

01.12.2008 EBA expands SEPA services
The pan-European clearing house adapts its services for SEPA credit transfers to the growing needs of European banks. Thus, in May 2008, it introduced a second processing and settlement cycle in order to meet the requirement for same-day settlement in addition to the planned night processing.... more

01.12.2008 Sixth SEPA progress report by the ECB
According to the European Central Bank the areas which require most attention are: a) the timely launch of the SEPA Direct Debit on 1 November 2009; b) the emergence of an additional European card scheme; and c) measures to stimulate migration to SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit, including the setting of a realistic, but ambitious end-date for national credit transfers and direct debits. Furthermore, the ECB suggests changes to the mandate and organization of the European Payments Council (EPC)... more

01.12.2008 French banks suspend SEPA involvement
The French Banking Federation announced on 26 November that the French banks would put SEPA direct debit and card payments on hold until their economic and legal risks were clarified... more

01.12.2008 France’s first migration report
The French National SEPA Committee assesses the state of France’s migration to SEPA, in accordance with the guidelines defined in the national migration plan. It presents in particular the monitoring of the take-up of SEPA instruments and the current and future tasks from the different stakeholders... more

01.12.2008 Three new Swiss SEPA participants
Three additional financial institutions connected to the SEPA credit transfer scheme on December 1st – Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, Caisse d'Epargne d'Aubonne and Swissquote Bank. Currently a total of more than 140 financial institutions from Switzerland and Liechtenstein take part in the single euro payments area. In November, the Swiss SEPA payment channel via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 processed more than 62,000 transactions... more

06.11.2008 Swiss SEPA payment traffic continues to climb
The Swiss SEPA payment channel via euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 continues to generate record high growth rates. In October, both transaction volume and value increased by 41 and 45 percent respectively over the previous month... more
In the same time period, on the pan-European platform STEP2 SEPA payments increased by 7 percent in value and by 10 percent in volume.

06.11.2008 EPC report on public consultation
The European Payments Council (EPC) reports on the public consultation of stakeholders on the change request for the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook Version 3.2. The document provides feedback on the consultation and deals exclusively with those comments received which the EPC has not accepted, along with a brief explanation as to why the comment has not been accepted... more

06.11.2008 Proposal of extending Regulation 2560/2001
The European Commission puts forward the proposal for extending the scope of its Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments. It's planned to align it with the Payment Services Directive wording and to extend its scope to include direct debits... more

06.11.2008 Electronic Banking 2008
Integrating SEPA formats and deploying enterprise portals are the greatest challenges over the next few years. That's one of the major findings in the German study "Electronic Banking 2008", published at the end of October... more

07.10.2008 Three new SEPA participants from Switzerland
Three additional financial institutions connected to the SEPA credit transfer scheme on October 7th, including: Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise and LGT Bank (Switzerland). This means that there are currently a total of more than 140 financial institutions from Switzerland and Liechtenstein within the single euro payments area.

07.10.2008 New monthly record
The number of SEPA transactions that were processed through euroSIC/SECB, the Swiss financial center’s joint venture, amounted to nearly 49,000 in September... more

07.10.2008 World Payments Report 2008
The fourth annual world payments report 2008 explores the global payments market. The report focuses, in particular, on Europe and the Single Euro Payments Areas (SEPA). It gives an account of the progress made on SEPA and the Payment Services Directive (PSD). The report discusses how corporates can benefit from SEPA migration and reviews the various country approaches and different business models within the cards payment market... more

07.10.2008 EPC information for companies
The European Payments Council (EPC) published an information brochure about SEPA for companies in September... more

07.10.2008 New comprehensive SEPA brochure
Entitled “SEPA 2008: uniform payment instruments for Europe”, the Association of German Banks recently published a 50-page brochure... more

05.09.2008 SDD in Switzerland: Scope of service and technical implementation
The first corner posts for the introduction of SEPA direct debits to the Swiss market... more

05.09.2008 Transaction figures for August
With fewer processing days than in the previous month, transaction volume decreased in Swiss SEPA payment traffic... more

05.09.2008 Summer break until October
After a three-month summer break, the next date for productive SEPA participation by financial institutions is set for the beginning of October... more

05.09.2008 Swiss NASO name change
"Swiss Interbank Clearing" is now "SIX Interbank Clearing": Since August 21, 2008, the new umbrella name, SIX, is being used by SWX, SIS and Telekurs, which have merged into a single financial center holding company. SIX stands for Swiss Infrastructure & EXchange. The new brand mirrors the strengths of the company as a whole while building upon the expertise of the existing companies. The new brand architecture expresses both these aspects in an excellent manner. Swiss Interbank Clearing, for example, has embodied proven qualities, such as reliability, quality and commitment to the Swiss financial center for over 20 years. SIX Interbank Clearing will also stand for these qualities in the future and bring them to the joint enterprise.

08.08.2008 Swiss SEPA payment traffic is booming
The Swiss SEPA payment channel, euroSIC/SECB/STEP2, continues to record high growth rates. Volume in July increased by 56 percent over the previous month. The number of transactions increased by 20% in the same time period... more
There was a nearly 6% increase in the number of transactions over the prior month on the Euro Banking Association’s (EBA) STEP2 platform through which pan-European SEPA payments are handled. The payments there increased by 2.3 percent in value.

08.08.2008 New version of the SCT Rulebook
Version 3.2 of the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook was approved and published after a four-month approval process by European Payments Council... more

08.08.2008 New version of the SDD Rulebook
The “SEPA Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook, Version 2.3” is being converted to the "SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook, Version 3.1". The new version is the basis for the implementation of the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme in Switzerland as well... more

04.07.2008 Swiss participation in the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme
The door to the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme stands wide open for Swiss banks' participation. This became evident after the last plenary meeting of the European Payments Council (EPC) on 24 June. The introduction of SEPA direct debits in Switzerland, starting November 2009, was approved a month ago by the Swiss Payments Council.

04.07.2008 57 additional SEPA participants from Switzerland
An additional 57 financial institutions in Switzerland, primarily regional banks and savings banks will be able to process SEPA credit transfers as of 7 July. This means that there are currently a total of 137 financial institutions from Switzerland and Liechtenstein in the euro payments area.

04.07.2008 High growth rate in July
The Swiss SEPA payment channel, euroSIC/SECB/STEP2 recorded over 37,000 transactions worth EUR 337 million, which represents an increase of 40% in the number of transactions and 26% in turnover over the prior month... more

04.07.2008 Questions & answers about SEPA card payments
A 7-page document with questions and answers regarding SEPA card payments was published by the EPC at the end of June on its Web site... more

04.07.2008 Public administrations in Belgium launch SEPA
The Federal Public Services of Belgium will introduce SEPA credit transfers on January 1, 2009 for all financial transactions with citizens and companies. Public administrations play a major catalytic role in SEPA migration in that they represent around 15-20% of all payments, according to the European Commission... more

04.07.2008 New SCT execution guidelines in the approval process
The EPC has initiated the approval process for the draft of the customer-to-bank implementation guidelines for the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT), version 3.2. The deadline is September 1, 2008. The text must also be approved by the EPC in the same month in order for the guideline to come into force on February 2, 2009... more

09.06.2008 Introduction of SEPA Direct Debits in Switzerland
Swiss Payments Council, the leading committee in Swiss payment traffic, decided at its meeting last Friday to introduce a SEPA-compatible direct debit scheme to the Swiss financial center in November 2009. This will ensure the mandatory reachability of debtors in Switzerland. Moreover, customers of financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein will be able to receive payments from throughout the entire SEPA area with direct debits.

09.06.2008 Four additional SEPA participants from Switzerland
Four additional financial institutions connected to the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme on June 2nd. This means that there is currently a total of 80 financial institutions from Switzerland and Liechtenstein in the euro payments area. Four of them are Swiss branches of foreign banks that have signed up through their parent companies, which means that they are not listed in the EPC statistics as Swiss financial institutions.

09.06.2008 Monthly statistics for SEPA transactions
Nearly 27,000 transactions were processed in May 2008, worth over EUR 266 million... more

09.06.2008 Liechtenstein and SEPA
Membership in two integration areas is unique for a European nation. Michael Lauber, CEO of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, explains how this affects the participation of the Principality of Liechtenstein in the June edition of the ClearIT magazine… more

09.06.2008 Just minor “childhood illnesses”
Taking stock after the first one hundred days of SEPA (status May 2008): According to assessments by the Swiss financial institutions, the credit transfer scheme is running surprisingly smoothly (article from the June edition of ClearIT)... more

09.06.2008 E-Invoicing
Under the catchword, e-SEPA, both mobile payments and e-invoicing shall be standardized and introduced in the future. The EU authorities promise that this shall result in double the amount of savings that are being reached in the core SEPA areas (article from the June edition of ClearIT)... more

09.06.2008 Public consultation for e-mandates
The European Payments Council (EPC) has sent the draft of a service description for electronic direct debit authorizations (e-mandates) for approval. This description is an optional supplement to the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme core services, as defined in the Rulebook, Version 3.1 (currently in draft form). The approval deadline is July 31, 2008. The text shall be approved on September 30, 2008 by the EPC… more

09.06.2008 Public consultation for the SEPA Cards Framework Standardisation Volume
The SEPA cards framework standardisation volume is available for public consultation until 18 August 2008. The aim of the document is to provide a basis for interoperability and the gradual convergence of technical standards underpinning the end-to-end card value chain… more

07.05.2008 77 financial institutions from the CHF zone in SEPA
With SIS SegaInterSettle AG, the Geneva Cantonal Bank and the Amtsersparniskasse Schwarzenburg, three additional Swiss banking institutions joined the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) on May 5, 2008.

07.05.2008 Accelerated increase of SEPA transactions
Among the banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein that are participating in SEPA, 46 out of 77 are processing their transactions through euroSIC/STEP2. This payment channel recorded accelerated transaction growth in April over the previous month: Transaction processing increased by 38%, to nearly 23,000 (in comparison, the increase from February to March was 14%). In the same period, turnover increased by 46% to over EUR 251 million (there was an increase of 44% in the previous month)... more

07.05.2008 New e-mail for the Swiss NASO
Effectively immediately, naso@sic.ch will function as a communications interface between the financial institutions and the Swiss National Adherence Support Organisation (NASO), Swiss Interbank Clearing, to ensure a smooth SEPA registration process. The e-mail address, sepa@sic.ch, will remain active for general questions on the topic of "SEPA and Switzerland".

07.05.2008 The latest SEPA study
A SEPA publication with numerous references to the international use of cashless payment means was recently published by Credit Suisse Economic Research. It contains comments based on the latest statistical publications, including those from the European Central Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)... more

01.04.2008 Four more Swiss banks to participate in SEPA
Fortis Bank (Schweiz) AG, Mirabaud & Cie, Bank Coop AG and AKB Privatbank Zürich AG round off the list of 74 financial institutions from Switzerland and Liechtenstein that will be participating in the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme as of April 7, 2008.

01.04.2008 Growing SEPA transaction figures
The number of transactions that were processed through euroSIC/STEP2 increased to above 16,500 in March, up 14% on the month before. In the same time period turnover increased to over EUR 172 million, which represents a growth rate of more than 44% ... more

01.04.2008 New rulebook version undergoing approval
The European Payments Council (EPC) has published a new draft version of the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook. The final version should be approved in June and then will be available starting February 1, 2009 ... more

29.02.2008 First SEPA month figures
In the first month since the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme launch on 28 January, about 16,000 transactions valued at EUR 127 million were made through the SEPA-compatible Swiss clearing and settlement mechanism euroSIC and the STEP2 platform of Euro Banking Association (EBA).

29.02.2008 Three more banks
On 3 March, AIG Private Bank Ltd., Banca Popolare di Sondrio and the Swiss National Bank will be joining the 67 SEPA participants from Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

29.02.2008 EPC updates time table till October 2008
The operational SEPA start date for financial institutions has been aligned to the first Monday of each month ... more

29.01.2008 Successful launching of the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme in Switzerland
Yesterday, the first SEPA-compatible euro transactions were processed throughout Europe. In Switzerland 429 SEPA payments were made through the euroSIC system on the first day. For more information: read the media release "Standardized euro transfers throughout Europe".

29.01.2008 New website www.sepa.ch
The website www.sepa.ch has just been redesigned and routes visitors to the comprehensive online information platform for financial institutions on the topic of “SEPA and Switzerland”.