Paris, 31 January 2006

Banks to create first pan- European direct debit service

Fifty-nine major payment banks in Europe have agreed to underwrite the project of EBA CLEARING to develop an infrastructure for processing pan-European Direct Debits. The participating banks include institutions from 15 EU Member States and represent the full spectrum of interest of the private, cooperative and the savings bank sectors (see list of participating banks below).

The service is planned to go live in mid-2007 and will enable the banks to offer their customers Direct Debit services ahead of the creation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) on 1st January 2008, meaning that half a billion EU citizens will be able to purchase goods and services using the same Direct Debit product irrespective of their location.

The service will support (but not be limited to) the SEPA Direct Debit scheme created by the European Payments Council. Its initial design will allow it to be extended to support Domestic Debit features or to support advanced features such as Electronic Bill Presentment and Payments. The extendible nature of this service has led to its name of the “Multi-purpose Pan-European Direct Debit service”, or M-PEDD.

The service will be based on EBA CLEARING’s STEP2 platform, the pan-European ACH that today processes SEPA-compliant credit transfers and has started to be increasingly used for domestic traffic. It is characterised by the following:

  • a central system, validating payments to achieve maximum straight-through processing (STP);
  • ISO20022 XML messages for standardised data exchange;
  • a comprehensive referencing framework to allow payments to be reconciled with orders;
  • a network architecture based on standard SWIFTNet banking interfaces.

With the M-PEDD development phase starting in February 2006, the banks aim to have the service live in time for the industry’s deadline of 2008 for pan-European Direct Debits.

The service will benefit all European stakeholders, be they central government agencies, corporates or private citizens. The M-PEDD service will fill a major gap in the current set of pan-European payments instruments and enable participating banks throughout the European Union to fully exploit the opportunities of SEPA.

List of Participating Banks (with Country of Origin):

  • ABN AMRO BANK, THE NETHERLANDS

  • AKTIA SAVINGS BANK, FINLAND

  • ALLIED IRISH BANKS, IRELAND

  • ALPHA BANK, GREECE

  • BANCA INTESA, ITALY

  • BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA, ITALY

  • BANCA NAZIONALE DEL LAVORO, ITALY

  • BANCA POPOLARE DI MILANO, ITALY

  • BANCO BILBAO VIZCAYA ARGENTARIA, SPAIN

  • BANCO COMERCIAL PORTUGUES, PORTUGAL

  • BANCO ESPANOL DE CREDITO, SPAIN

  • BANCO ESPIRITO SANTO, PORTUGAL

  • BANCO PASTOR, SPAIN

  • BANCO POPOLARE DI VERONA E NOVARA, ITALY

  • BANCO POPULAR ESPANOL, SPAIN

  • BANCO SABADELL, SPAIN

  • BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO, SPAIN

  • BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, AUSTRIA

  • BANK OF IRELAND, IRELAND

  • BANK OF SCOTLAND, UK

  • BANQUE ET CAISSE D'EPARGNE DE L'ETAT, LUXEMBOURG

  • BANQUE FEDERATIVE DU CREDIT MUTUEL, FRANCE

  • BARCLAYS BANK, UK

  • BAYERISCHE HYPO- UND VEREINSBANK, GERMANY

  • BNP PARIBAS, FRANCE

  • CAISSE NATIONALE CAISSES D'EPARGNE ET PREVOYANCE, FRANCE

  • CAIXA D'ESTALVIS I PENSIONS DE BARCELONA, SPAIN

  • CAIXA GERAL DE DEPOSITOS, PORTUGAL

  • CAJA MADRID, SPAIN

  • CITIBANK, USA

  • COMMERZBANK, GERMANY

  • CONFEDERACION ESPANOLA DE CAJAS DE AHORROS, SPAIN

  • CREDIT AGRICOLE, FRANCE

  • DANSKE BANK, DENMARK

  • DEUTSCHE BANK, GERMANY

  • DEXIA BANQUE, BELGIUM

  • DRESDNER BANK, GERMANY

  • DZ BANK, GERMANY

  • FORTIS BANK, BELGIUM

  • HSBC BANK, UK

  • HSBC FRANCE, FRANCE

  • ING BANK, THE NETHERLANDS

  • JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, USA

  • KBC BANK, BELGIUM

  • NATEXIS BANQUES POPULAIRES, FRANCE

  • NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE, GREECE

  • NORDEA BANK FINLAND, FINLAND

  • OKO BANK, FINLAND

  • RABOBANK NEDERLAND, THE NETHERLANDS

  • RAIFFEISEN ZENTRALBANK ÖSTERREICH, AUSTRIA

  • ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND, UK

  • SAMPO BANK, FINLAND

  • SANPAOLO IMI, ITALY

  • SKANDINAVISKA ENSKILDA BANKEN, SWEDEN

  • SOCIETE GENERALE, FRANCE

  • SVENSKA HANDELSBANKEN, SWEDEN

  • SWEDBANK, SWEDEN

  • UNICREDITO ITALIANO, ITALY

  • WESTLB, GERMANY