SEPA was on the February agenda for ECOFIN, the EU council of finance ministers. In their annual review of SEPA, they stated that “SEPA remains a necessary and economically viable project. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to maintain migration momentum and ensure that the full benefits of the project are attained.”
The report, however, does not make good reading when viewed from an Irish context. Much of the report is concerned with a survey on SEPA preparedness and migration by public administrations. Ireland fared badly in the survey. 4 Irish institutions were included in the survey of 88 institutions across the EU fared. The Irish institutions had not executed ant SEPA credit transfers. Nor did it appear that they had assigned specific responsibility for SEPA.
On the other hand, Ireland was able to report that continued legal validity of existing DD mandates will be ensured through legislative changes during PSD transposition. Banks would have to change their general terms and conditions and inform their customers about this. This approach will greatly ease the process of migration to SEPA Direct Debit.
The ECOFIN Annual Report on SEPA can be found here
