The European Payments Council delays Sepa payment schemes migration to March 2024
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The European Payments Council (EPC) has announced recently that the migration of Sepa payments schemes to the 2019 version of ISO 20022 will be delayed.
While it was initially supposed to be conducted in November 2023, the Council said it will now be pushed by four months, meaning that it is expected to occur in March 2024. This is because at least two large Sepa countries cannot make the original deadline.
The Sepa payment schemes migration is delayed for March 17
The initial deadline, November 19, was supposed to see the migration of four Sepa payments schemes: Sepa Credit Transfer, Sepa Direct Debit Core, Sepa Instant Credit Transfer, and SDD Business-to-Business.
However, with the deadline less than a month away, the EPC spoke to participants, concluding that this deadline does not leave enough time for them to prepare for the migration. As a result, the Council said that operational delays are the best course of action. This will grant the nations enough time to prepare while providing some time for additional testing.
The EPC also noted that pushing ahead with the initial date would affect payment service providers within the countries and cross-border Sepa transactions. Doing so could have resulted in a potential knock-on effect for the entire region, which the Council needs to prepare to risk.
The EPC said that it is fully aware of the implications of this decision, but it still believes that the best course of action is to change the migration date to March 17, 2024. The council has already consulted all relevant stakeholders, making sure to gather their input, and they apparently agree that the delay is the best option at this time, given the situation.
The EPC underlines reachability, stability, and integrity as highest priority
The European Payment Council’s director general, Giorgio Adndreoli, commented on the decision, saying that the council thanks the Sepa payment scheme participants and CSMs who were prepared for the migration’s original date. However, he noted that the reachability, stability, and integrity of the payment schemes is the Council’s highest priority.
“The PSP communities and all stakeholders may be reassured that the EPC will take every possible measure to secure the success of the migration in the new proposed date,” he said.
The announcement made one request of the Sepa participants: “In light of the above, all SEPA payment scheme participants are being asked to inform as soon as possible their customers about the possible implications related to the new entry-into-force date of the 2023 SEPA payment scheme rulebooks. The EPC strongly recommends all SEPA payment scheme participants and their CSMs to continue with all necessary preparations and tests at the current pace, in order to reach a stable ISO version migration and resilient SEPA payment scheme production and back-up environments as soon as possible.”
