And avoid letting the Single Euro Payments Area become a compliance nightmare
Nobody likes to be forced to do something—even if that something is the right thing to do. This is the case with regulation to create the European payment system, Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The message of opportunity embedded in SEPA preparation, unfortunately, has taken a back seat to the mandate the European Union (EU) felt obligated to put in place on March 31, 2012.
The EU’s vision was to support a single Eurozone market with a single payments area along with the under-appreciated adoption of a single XML format, based on the global ISO20022 standard. By mandating end-to-end adoption of the SEPA payment format based on ISO20022, corporates can now standardize processes and systems on a single format for the 32 countries of SEPA.
This will vastly improve their ability to centralize and automate payments and collections in the largest economy in the world. Treasurers can also use it to catch up to, if not get ahead of, the changes shaping the next generation of treasury and shared service centers globally.
“It’s almost a dream come true for treasurers who are working on the grand treasury themes of automation, standardization and centralization,” says Martin Runow, Head of Cash Management Corporates of the Americas, Global Transaction Banking, Deutsche Bank.
The entire SEPA Migration Supplement is available for download. Click on the Download Supplement button below or at the top right of the page to download the PDF.