The SEPA Card Framework
Article by Phuong Dai Nestler
The vision of SEPA is “…the integrated market for payment services
which is subject to effective competition and where there is no distinction between
cross-border and national payments within the euro area.”
To realize this vision requires establishing rules and frameworks for SEPA within
the payment industry and the banking community. The scope to remove the technical,
legal and commercial barriers will obviously be different for each EU member as
the current national payment markets differ very much. The SEPA Card Framework mainly
effects the national debit payment schemes as the international credit card scheme
is already SEPA conform.
The European commission states as benefits that SEPA opens up a great opportunity
for banks and payment service providers to access foreign markets and acquire new
customers. For example a German Network Provider could offer their services to a
Retailer outside Germany in a touristy area (e.g. Mallorca) for ecCash acceptance.
Impact of the SEPA Card Framework
Looking at the German market we see especially on the ATM and POS card acceptance
side the need to take measures to implement SEPA as currently the domestic debit
scheme is dominant to international debit like Maestro. But according to the non-discrimination
principles of SEPA it will be required to treat national and international card-based
transactions equally and ensure the acceptance of international debit products.
However, the details of the actual migration path - from a commercial and legal
point of view - have not been defined yet. The ZKA have launched a migration strategy
based on the principle of protecting current investments (of the network providers)
with the goal to maintain the ecCash System as SEPA standard. Meanwhile the international
payments schemes have started a market push to position the international brands.
The assertiveness of one or the other system as a SEPA solution have yet to be proven.
Technology supports Strategy
Considering this situation of uncertainty while at the same time being confronted
with business challenges like cross-border Issuing and Acquiring puts the network
and payment service providers in a difficult situation.
In this situation it is more important than ever to base all current IT investments
in the Card Payment industry on requirements as flexibility with regard to multiple
standards and interfaces, efficiency and multi-client/Multi-channel capability.
Technology decisions cannot be considered isolated from SEPA as the change is due
to happen. A positive effect of SEPA compliance is that the Business case can possibly
be calculated from the cost savings of an efficient and integrated payment network.
At the moment it appears that the large banks and service providers are well positioned
to be the first to respond to the SEPA Card Framework.
eps's Commitment
As a solution provider we are committed to help the payment industry to generate
a positive business case for SEPA. We will help our customers implement a SEPA compliant
efficient payment platform which is flexible enough for future challenges.
We can provide a SEPA Layer as front-end solution to the existing applications in
order to transparently fulfil the SEPA requirements while protecting established
workflows and technology. By providing a protocol and message conversion within
the SEPA Layer, the interoperability will be achieved at low cost and risk.
For more information please contact our sales representative. |
