|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday June 23, 05:23
|
|
SEPA Will Help Banks Offer Value-Added Services
|
|
From 2006, Europe’s banks will be able to prioritize working capital and purchase-chain services once the SEPA project simplifies transaction capture and initiation, now the most costly element of banks’ payment activities. In late 2005, under SEPA, the European Banking Association is to roll out its STEP3 platform, for corporate clients to initiate transactions via the Euro-ACH (initially called STEP2). France, Germany and the UK, which account for 40 per cent of Europe’s payment market, are however not expected to move onto the Euro-ACH until at least the year 2010.
Moving domestic payments onto the Euro-ACH platform is expected to be a challenge, given the traditional, specialized silo structures of domestic payment systems. SEPA will however only be a success if one platform supports both domestic and cross-border payments to ensure the highest volume for the lowest-cost solution. High-value transactions, at over 80 per cent of intra-bank exchanges, are a priority in needing real-time, intra-day processing. For this reason, banks are devising value-added options for treasury and cash-management services to improve efficiency.
Today, over 98 per cent of all payments within the EU are still domestic (local), with the absence of a single SEPA infrastructure for cross-border payments seen as a major barrier to the single market for payments. With Europe expanding to include 27 countries by 2006, the challenge is for the continent’s banks to adapt their services, including banking and cash-management, to a pan-European context. For SEPA to achieve its timeline and a solid return on investment, however, buy-in is needed from all players in the payments value chain and from regulators within the EU.
(GT News.com )
|
|
All billing news
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 KEYWORD SEARCH |
|
|
|
|
|
SUBSCRIPTION |
|
|
|
|
|