Tom Conlon for sepa.ie talks to Mick O Neill, IPSO, SEPA Co-ordinator for the Irish banks
Irish Payment Services Organisation Ltd. (IPSO) is owned by the Irish banking industry, and is “the representative industry body, the voice and guardian of the payments industry and the strategic interface with all payments stakeholders”. IPSO provides central programme management for SEPA within Ireland, and represents the Irish payments industry at the European Payments Council, its subcommittees, and many other European forums.
For an up-to-date fix on SEPA, Tom Conlon for sepa.ie went to meet Mick O’Neill, IPSO SEPA Co-ordinator for the Irish banks.
Tom Conlon:
"It is now early December 2008, and the first set of SEPA deliverables has been available for 10 months. Firstly, are all of the main banks offering SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) services? Are they dealing with both incoming and originating transactions?"
Mick:
"All our IPSO members Banks are offering SCT services to their customers in both a receiving and originating capacity."
Tom Conlon:
"Are there any statistics available yet on the level of usage of SCT, or feedback on how customers (particularly business customers) perceive the change"
Mick:
"Migration to SEPA Credit Transfer is happening but is slow. Recent (September) ECB figures show that 1.5% of credit transfers are using the SEPA formats. These are mostly cross border transactions and domestic SEPA transaction volumes are negligible. A recent ECB Corporate Survey revealed that over 80% of respondents were aware of SEPA."
Tom Conlon:
"Just to understand more fully, can you clarify if cross-border credit transfers in traditional form and SEPA credit transfers are both currently used for transferring funds to EU countries, and if so, is there a schedule for phasing out the old?"
Mick:
"If the beneficiary Bank is SEPA reachable the new SEPA Credit Transfer formats are used by our member Banks"
Tom Conlon:
"There seems to be little progress at Europe-wide level on gaining clarity on the future shape of clearing systems. Will national clearings continue? Will there be more PEACHs? What is Irelands position in relation to this?"
Mick:
"Most Automated Clearing Houses that were processing credit transfers have become SCT scheme compliant. There is still only one Pan European Clearing and national clearing in Ireland will continue until our legacy payment systems are retired and all payments have migrated to the SEPA Schemes. All the Irish Banks are connected to the PEACH either directly or indirectly through another Bank."
Tom Conlon:
"Turning to cards, can you clarify what is the current position which a card issuer must reach to comply with the SEPA Cards Framework (SCF), and can you say how many Irish card issuers have reached that stage?"
Mick:
"Card Issuers must ensure that cards issued post 1st January 2011 are from a Card Scheme that is SCF-compliant. An SCF Card Scheme is one that is open for membership to all Card Issuers and Acquirers operating in the euro zone. This applies to all cards issued currently in ROI. (Proprietary cards are not included in the scope of the SCF)"
Tom Conlon:
"Now the same question in relation to card acquirers. Can you clarify what is the current position which a card acquirer must reach to comply with the SEPA Cards Framework (SCF), and can you say how many Irish card acquirers have reached that stage?"
Mick:
"From 1st January 2011 all Card Acquirers must have the capability to offer SCF-compliant Card Scheme acceptance to their customers (the Retailers). There are four Card Acquirers in ROI currently, all of which offer to their customers all existing available SCF-compliant Card Schemes."
Tom Conlon:
"Can you comment on the longer term plans for SCF compliance of Irish debit cards?"
Mick:
"Currently the Irish debit card market consists of three different Debit Card Scheme brands. Each Card Scheme currently offers to Cardholders a card that can be used nationally and internationally at the same cost and with the same ease throughout the eurozone. This position is expected to continue as is."
Tom Conlon:
"Is there any information on the transposition of the PSD into Irish legislation? I had expected to see a draft at this stage?"
Mick:
"The Department of Finance, following a consultation process earlier in the year, have issued the draft Heads of Legislation which will be transposed into law on November 1 2009."
Tom Conlon:
"What about the SEPA direct debit? Even Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of the ECB, a most ardent supporter of SEPA recently said ‘it cannot be denied that the SDD is having some engine trouble’. I understand that there are issues in relation to interchange fees, mandates, etc. Is there likely to be a delay in launching?"
Mick:
"The SEPA Direct Debit Scheme is still scheduled to launch in November 2009 and all our member banks are working towards this date. However there are a number of uncertainties that could jeopardise the launch. The key stakeholders, namely the EPC, ECB and the EU Commission are working to resolve these issues. With regard to mandates the Department of Finance, following a submission from IPSO, have agreed to introduce legislation that will give legal certainty to all existing mandates once they have migrated to the SEPA DD Scheme."
