Solutions

SEPA Direct Debits (SDD)

Rationalising Eurozone Direct Debits

SEPA Direct Debits (SDD), as part of the larger European harmonisation process, has been championed as a victory for common sense for the European consumer, but touted as another heavy investment and a revenue reducing initiative for financial institutions. The fact remains that SDD impacts all banks operating in the Eurozone.

SDD, a part of the overall Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative, is the payment instrument and scheme that by 2010 will have started replacing currently existing domestic direct debiting schemes. SDD entails a new set of standards and formats as well as a set of strict rules governing relations between creditor and debtor, their banks, as well as between banks themselves. Banks are expected to start offering SDD to their customers by 2010. From 2010 onwards, during a transitional phase, SDD will co-exist with the current domestic direct debiting schemes.

While SEPA is perceived by many as an unwanted regulatory initiative, given the right vision it actually provides a wealth of opportunity. Much has been written and said about SEPA increasing competition whilst reducing bottom-line margins. Most market observers agree that one of the key elements of a successful SEPA strategy is the provision of value added customer services transcending plain “rulebook compliance”. Such services are essential for consolidating and boosting market share while increasing much needed revenue.

The obvious upheaval brought about by SEPA is causing many banks to finally seriously consider outsourcing at least part of their payments processing. A functionally rich multi-bank and multi-bank-group payments system able to process high volumes is a solution not only for the bank’s own processing needs but also those of institutions to outsource. The benefits are clear: additional revenue, faster ROI, and higher volume leading to a lower price per transaction. SDD is also the opportunity to implement the first piece of an all inclusive multi-payment-type processing hub with the flexibility to adapt to the bank’s future requirements.

SEPA in a Box

SEPA in a Box offers banks full SEPA Direct Debit compliance in a packaged solution, without the potentially spiralling costs and delays inherent to bespoke vendor solutions or in-house developments. SEPA in a Box represents the rational response to meeting the mandatory SEPA requirements on budget and on time.

More information in the flyer:
SEPA in a Box English - Spanish - French 0,5 MB

An Open Payment Framework to Support SDD

Clear2Pay’s SEPA Direct Debits solution is based on the Open Payment Framework (OPF). The Open Payment Framework from Clear2Pay is a library of component building blocks from which payments solutions can be derived. The Open Payment Framework is built entirely on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) delivering common, reusable services consisting of a comprehensive data model, choreographed payment business processes and configurable services including parsing, validation, cost-based routing, warehousing, security, auditing and many more

 

 

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