Companies that move to SEPA payment services at an early stage are likely to benefit the most from the new environment in the short term, thanks to the uniform processes and the increased transparency of fee structures.

Companies making large numbers of cross-border transactions will naturally benefit most.

If your company is mainly engaged in domestic activities, you will need to determine when it is most convenient to move from existing schemes to the new SEPA products and standards during the 2008 – 2010 migration period.

Several local banking communities are committed to offering access to SEPA payment instruments that can be used both nationally and within SEPA from January 2008 onwards. However, banks in all SEPA countries must be ‘reachable’ from that date - that is, they must be able by then to process SEPA payments originating from other countries.

In practice, national payment instruments will co-exist alongside the new SEPA instruments for some time after pan-European products become available in January 2008.

During the transition period, Fortis will continue to support national payment instruments and protocols in every country in which it operates. This means that Fortis clients will enjoy full continuity with their current payment environment.