There can be no doubt that SEPA will have a significant impact on the European payments landscape, and it is bound to affect your organisation as well. The move to SEPA will involve much more than just switching from one payment instrument to another.

Getting ready for SEPA will call for some thought and preparation by your company. But that does not necessarily mean that you will have to dramatically change your infrastructures. In many cases, optimising your existing processes and converting to the new payment formats may be enough to reap the benefits of SEPA. You should also bear in mind that your staff will need some training in order to become familiar with the new SEPA environment.

Before anything else, you should start by replacing the account data in your client and supplier databases, making sure that IBANs and BICs are mentioned on all invoices. This work should be completed as soon as possible for both domestic and cross-border payments, so as to avoid possible rejection of payment instructions and any penalty charges.

If you’d like any further details on practical steps to ensure a smooth migration to SEPA, your Fortis Relationship Manager is ready to provide these.