SEPA deadline extended

Well, the European Commission wants to extend it by 6 months as they reckon too many SMEs have failed to take the 1st February deadline seriously.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-6_en.htm

It is not as if this deadline was not well publicised. I can see no reason to delay it.

I read an Indo article that said only 23% of Irish SMEs are ready. If your employer is one of the 77% who aren't and they pay salary through bank transfer then a delay is a GOOD_THING as you wouldn't get paid otherwise (unless they issue cheques or something).

I agree that it was well publicised and any tardy companies have nobody to blame but themselves, but for the good of the majority a delay is probably a good idea, unfortunately.

Don't delay it, people will just put it on the long finger. Just do it now and get it sorted

There would be absolute chaos if the 77% of SMEs figure is correct. Large numbers of payroll departments trying to contact their bank to get people paid, people not meeting mortgage or rent payments because of delayed salary etc. If there was 77% readiness then I'd agree with you and say "go for it" and sort out the problems quickly but with such tardiness right across Europe (also among banks apparently) it would be foolhardy to enforce the deadline IMO.

Our ERP provider has been working on it for several months and we're almost ready to go. I can easily imagine how other companies would struggle to make the deadline.

It's better if they not delay it, if you delay 6 months now, then it will be delayed by another 6 months later....

I don't think the Commission took this step lightly. There are just too many companies and financial institutions who aren't ready.

I've been heavily involved with SEPA. (I don't work in the banking industry but we have dealt with all the banks as part of the SEPA project).

My thoughts for what its worth - (not much!)

i) From my own experience I think extending this deadline was the right decision.

A lot of companies we've worked with haven't take SEPA as seriously as they should have, don't fully understand it or just don't care. Some were in for a very rude shock on 1st Feb if the existing deadline had been left as is.

ii) Some banks have been very pro active and had an excellent approach to SEPA.

From my own experience I would say that AIB have had an excellent approach to SEPA and I would highly commend them as having a pro-active approach to SEPA early on in comparision to other banks.

iii) I'd also praise IPSO as well who were involved with AIB at the start and who have an excellent conversion tool on their website.

iv) Some banks have had an awful approach to SEPA and I know some of our customers have even changed Banks because of how poor one particular banks approach to SEPA has been.

v) Unless there is a push from the banks the 6 month extension isn't going to be enough and in 6 months time there will still be a large percentage of companies out there who are still not ready. All the banks need to be pushing their customers to force the switch over on time.

It's such a big issue IMO that there should be legislation passed to allow fining non-SEPA ready companies and institutions on the 1st of August. They've had long enough now to get their house in order.

I've been heavily involved in this for work (on client side rather than bank side). I deal with a number of banks across europe. I read an article by ISME criticising Irishbanks for being lazy and not ready....I thought that was very unfair as they are in general as ready as the next bank. Obviously some are more ready than others, but in general they are where they should be...able to offer SEPA transactions.


Its customers who arent ready. Now people say its up to the banks to get the customers ready. I see plenty of info from them, but customers just dont have the time, the will or the money to make the changes.

Some banks (not just Irish) are offering conversion services whereby you send them legacy DD/SCT files and they convert to XML. I think a lot of companies had 'banked' on using this service and that the % of up take would have been much higher than was seen in Nov (26% DDs and 63% sct).

IPSO's press release on the SEPA deadline extension

The Irish Payment Services Organisation notes the EU Commission's proposal to amend Regulation (EU) 260/2012 as regards migration to the SEPA payment schemes. The 1st February 2014 end date is maintained and the commission proposal provides for an additional transitional period during which payments in legacy formats can still be processed. The proposal will minimise any possible risk of disruption in payments to consumers and businesses.

IPSO’s SEPA Ireland Programme Manager, Michael O’Neill, stated today that “unlike some other European countries, SEPA migration in Ireland is well advanced and it estimates that in excess of 95% of all payments and companies will be migrated to SEPA by 1st February 2014. IPSO and its member banks therefore continue to aim for completion of the changeover by 1st February 2014.”