Single Euro Payments Area

To help you structure your SEPA programme more easily, here is a compilation of questions and key points that you may ask and discuss with different groups:

Questions to ask within your organisation

1. Can we avoid SEPA? As the transition to SEPA is inevitable, is it better to implement it now?
2. Do we have a SEPA migration programme established? Have we obtained senior support? Have all internally and externally affected parties been identified, briefed and made aware of the possible scope and timing of the impact on them? That is, how many customers and suppliers are maintained throughout SEPA, and in which countries? Has the SEPA change programme for our technology and operations departments been scoped and considered in costing?
3. In which countries are our company's payments business concentrated? How many bank relationships and bank accounts are maintained throughout the region? Can we rationalise them? What is the mix of my payments business (percentage of urgent versus non-urgent)? Are we using cheques? What percentage of our collections are cash? Can we migrate our payments and collections system to SEPA for greater efficiency and control?
4. Have we obtained International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN) and Bank Identifier Codes (BIC) from all our counterparties? How can we best capture this data?
5. How can we best leverage the fixed value dating aspect of the SEPA schemes?
6. Does SEPA provide opportunities for us to rationalise our organisational structure and/or treasury activities?

Discussion points with your suppliers/customers/vendors

1. Have we provided BIC/IBAN details to you?
2. Have you provided BIC/IBAN details to us?
3. Will you be changing payment/collection terms as a result?
4. Will SEPA be used as the catalyst for collaborative financial supply chain relationships between buyers and suppliers, eg dematerialisation of trade documents, provision of working capital finance, etc?
5. What will be the impact of SEPA non-compliance on our trading relationship?

Discussion points with your payments bank

1. Will there be a BIC and IBAN data referencing service made available to assist with the migration to SEPA? Do I need BIC and IBAN for domestic payments as well?
2. The European Commission Incentives Paper talks about e-invoicing, will this also be a SEPA service offering?
3. Will my treasury system receive real-time information as a consequence of SEPA initiatives?
4. With fixed-value dating to be introduced, will cash flow forecasting tools be available to me?
5. Will new working capital offerings be made available to me?
6. Is your bank directly connected to a PE-ACH? Will SEPA provide capabilities other than the SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit? Will I need a mass migration of direct debit mandates to facilitate the move to SEPA Direct Debit?
7. What is the best way to go about consolidating our bank accounts held across the region?
8. What is the impact of SEPA on central bank reporting requirements?
9. Will your payments platform enable SEPA transactions to receive same-day value?

Discussion points at industry level and at National Treasurers Associations

1. Will the transition to SEPA be monitored on a country-by-country basis?
2. What is the in-country migration schedule for our market?
3. How will existing products and services be transitioned into the new SEPA products? How will this transition impact me?
4. How long will the dual-running period be for SEPA instruments and existing national schemes?
5. Will my company have the opportunity to consolidate bank accounts in the European Union (EU)? Is it realistic to operate with one single account across the region?
6. How do you expect market practices to evolve as a result of SEPA?
7. What is the consequence of non-compliance with SEPA?
8. Will tax rates in the EU change in tandem with the implementation of SEPA?

Discussion points with your ERP/TMS vendor

From the start, establish the main one-off costs that might be associated with any changes to your enterprise resource planning (ERP) or other back-office systems. It will also indicate which banks and software houses are proficient in SEPA and which are not.

1. What measures should I take to ensure that my ERP platform will be SEPA-compliant?
2. What changes to my existing system are required in order to support the new SEPA instruments?
3. With XML in mind, does my existing interface to the bank need to change?
4. Will there be a BIC and IBAN conversion module* available to me? Is it necessary or can I continue with my present export format
5. My ERP system presently releases payment instructions prior to value date, will this change under SEPA?
6. Will my treasury system still be able to receive and process real-time information once the SEPA schemes are implemented?

*HSBC's Global Payments Directory service can help your company migrate data to the IBAN format.

Engage the key stakeholders of your company in the SEPA project and create a timetable with the flexibility to adapt to future changes.

Depending on the size of your business, areas affected by SEPA include treasury, accounts, banking liaison, IT, invoice management and liquidity, legal and compliance.

• Client-facing managers should be engaged as a big consideration will be the pace at which clients are moving to SEPA
• Supplier relationships should be considered, which means consulting the purchasing team
• SEPA will impact internal-facing functions such as payroll and human resources
• Internal and external communications may need to be managed via the PR and marketing department
• If your business includes group companies, you'll need to identify a project member responsible for coordinating the SEPA transition within these businesses
• Companies with overseas offices/subsidiaries may need to appoint an international SEPA project manager, responsible for overseeing a uniform transition between countries

Create and implement the right SEPA strategy for your organisation by partnering with us.

SEPA aims to create a borderless system for payments across Europe. For your business, this means:

• It will no longer be necessary to operate local accounts in each country
• You will not have to deal with different national payment instruments
• You may be able to centralise your internal processes
• All of this can help improve liquidity and cash flow forecasting, reduce costs and facilitate access to new markets

Read more about how you can benefit from SEPA.

Enjoy greater functionality, ease of use and simpler processing for both originators and beneficiaries of payments with a standardised payment system across Europe through SEPA. Take advantage of the following:

• All payment instructions in just one format instead of one per country
• Increased payment narrative and description fields
• Only one euro account requirement for all payments and collections
• Greater control over your euro liquidity management
• Paperless strategy

The PSD aims to make payment service laws consistent across the EEA. Under this, banks and other payment service providers across Europe must provide you with all the necessary information such as rates and charges when you make a payment, offer a consistent level of service and protect you when payments are not executed correctly or authorised by you.

HSBC, as your payment service provider, already meets or exceeds the standards set out by the PSD; thus, you probably have not noticed too many changes to your day-to-day banking even if this directive has been implemented.

The PSD applies different rules for different sizes of businesses. Under the PSD, your business is categorised as:

• Microenterprise if its turnover is less than EUR2 million
• Corporate business if its turnover is more than EUR2 million and/or you employ 10 or more people

If you are already an HSBC business banking customer, let us know of the turnover of your business and any associated financial changes so we can ensure that the relevant sections of the PSD are applied to your transactions.