Charts & statistics

At present, according to statistics issued by the European Central Bank, Sentenial’s solutions alone are currently processing 10% of SEPA Direct Debit transactions.

Click to expand the chart to see SEPA transactions on the rise

Contact Sentenial for more information

Transactions processed in SEPA format
(Nov 2009 - Nov 2011)

Transactions processed in SEPA format
(Nov 2009 - Nov 2011)

• 7.34 million SEPA transactions processed in 2011
• Origix Corporate handled 4% of this total volume in 2011
• Last 3 months of 2011 it handled 10% of total volume
• 7.34 million is 0.16% of the total volume of direct debits (DD)
• Total direct debit volume is 550 million per month, do the maths!

How does SEPA affect you?

In this section we outline the SEPA impact on corporates, banks and individuals. Click the icons to the left to explore these impacts.

SEPA - corporate perspective

By 2014 all payment transactions will need to be completed under SEPA payments instruments.

The SEPA EU voted by Parliament means that all current national clearing schemes (local and/or domestic payment systems) will disappear and all market participants will have to adopt −and adapt to− the new ways of working.

By adopting SEPA early, your organisation will gain first mover advantage; you will have a longer window in which to select and pilot new systems, and running new processes in parallel with existing ones can allow you to migrate to SEPA on a timetable dictated by your business, not external factors.

In addition to early adopter benefits, SEPA itself offers several advantages.

By moving to SEPA you can simplify your banking relationships and standardise processes for Euro payments and collections in multiple countries, thus creating operational efficiency, reducing banking costs and simplifying cash pooling.

Save time and costs

SEPA payments allow companies to execute and manage all of their Euro payments centrally, from a single account.

Once SEPA is fully implemented, Euro payments will be easier, as all incoming and outgoing payments will take the same format.

Companies will be able to consolidate their payments activity and better centralize liquidity management in one location.

For European-wide business, SEPA will save both money and time.

SEPA - bank and payment institution perspective

European Banks have successfully harmonised the way Euro payments are made and processed.  Although this change has already entailed substantial costs, the benefits are already beginning to materialise and will continue into the future.

More business opportunities

Banks can now offer their operational services to all customers across Europe – national borders have already become less important in moving money. Many banks will be able to pursue a large potential customer base that was never before reachable. In addition, banks can now expand their business to serve their customers’ needs by offering eSEPA services (such as e- payments and e-invoicing) in addition to the SEPA products.

Increased market efficiency

SEPA has defined a single set of rules under which payments are made. This will result in:

• Consistency throughout Europe
• Equal and open access to the European market
• Reachability throughout the Euro zone

These factors will encourage competition and enable banks to negotiate better conditions with their own service providers.

Cost-efficient processing

Regulation (EC) 924/2009, which replaced Regulation (EC) 2560/2001 on 1 November 2009, established that financial intermediaries must charge similar prices for comparable cross-border and domestic payments within the European Union. However, cross-border payments are traditionally more expensive and complex to process.

SEPA will overcome this imbalance by making cross-border payments as efficient and inexpensive as national payments.

SEPA - individual’s perspective

Only one account needed

A growing number of people across Europe are living and working in different European countries and have to make regular payments to beneficiaries located abroad.

Before SEPA, cross-border payments required holding an account in each country, or having to face the difficulties and costs of making a cross-border transfer. In the case of direct debits, it was not even possible to use this instrument between different countries.

With the introduction of SEPA, you will no longer need different accounts across Europe and electronic payments to and from different Euro countries will finally be as easy as national payments are today.

Less time handling payments

A further long-term goal of SEPA is to eliminate paper and use electronic payments only. Payments can then be combined with eSEPA services that make the process of paying even simpler.

These kinds of services already exist in some countries, but they do not necessarily work across borders. With SEPA you will need less time to manage your payments.