Posts Tagged ‘SEPA’
As the dust begins to settle from PayStream’s first annual electronic invoicing summit, The Next Generation of E-Payables: Electronic Invoicing and Supply Chain Finance, and before I go back to work on our Spring Summit 2009, I thought I’d take a few minutes to reflect on the week’s events.
The inspiration for the Summit was PayStream’s consulting, research reports, and one specific study our research division has been conducting for the last several months regarding the state of AP automation in U. S. companies. The findings were unveiled at the Summit and the eInvoicing Adoption Survey Report released this week. LINK
Common themes emerged from the conference delegates. Many admitted that imaging and OCR were great first steps, but they found it was time to take their AP departments to the next level in automation and to begin exploring advanced options like electronic invoicing.
Organizations just getting started on the path to automation expressed relief when they discovered many of the options that technology providers offered could be tailored and implemented a la carte. You don’t have to automate the entire process all at once.
Of course, everyone wants to know how to make the implementation process a success, but making that happen depends on variables, often times out of your control. This was addressed in the morning panel discussions when panelists offered anecdotes for how to be successful.
The moral of the stories was: 1. Executive sponsorship and cross departmental collaboration is key. You need all departments on board and you need your executive leadership to fully understand and support the project to have any chance of automating your accounts payable, and 2. Take time prior to implementation to get an accurate estimate of the current state of your payables, even if this means stretching your timeline an additional 3-6 months.
And the question addressed most often; how do we get our suppliers on board? The answer was a unanimous recommendation to approach your vendor pool with an air of collaboration and be willing to work with individual vendors who may be on separate platforms. Often times, a solution provider will handle supplier on-boarding for you.
Now, getting back to the survey results from the PayStream eInvoicing Adoption Survey Report. Amid all the findings, we see most clearly that paper is on the way out and it’s on the way out fast. By 2010 we anticipate electronic invoices exceeding the number of paper invoices processed by Fortune 500 companies in the U. S.
Source: PayStream Voices
The migration of Microsoft’s treasury onto the XML-based ISO20022 messaging standard is likely to be a multi-year, ongoing initiative, according to a treasury manager at the software giant.
Microsoft’s treasury would like to migrate all of its financial messaging onto the XML-based standard, however the tardiness of banks and their own adoption of the standard for their treasury services, means that the project will be an “evolution” that will involve several phases, according to Ed Barrie, group manager, Treasury at Microsoft.
“The XML standard will give us more enriched data at a transactional level which we can put into specifically defined fields in our Enterprise Resource Planning systems,” says Barrie. “This will give us better STP and a single viewpoint for all of our payments information.
Microsoft’s treasury department handles global credit and collections, cash management and account opening and closing for the software giant covering 1100 bank accounts and 130 banking partners.
Microsoft is concentrating on its treasury statements primarily, before applying the ISO20022 standard to its payment flows. However the project’s success will be heavily dependant on the progress of its 130 banking partners.
“By next year we expect to have at least two banks converted and hope to have six or more,” says Barrie.
At least the ISO standard will not face unwelcome competition. According to Barrie, there will not be a rival standard to ISO20022. “It is the format that supports Sepa payments in Europe so that is driving adoption but it has mostly been on the bank to bank payments side. What we need to see is this adoption spread to the bank to customer side.”
Despite the slow progress, Barrie is confident that by next year’s Sibos event, there will have been some significant developments, helped by demonstrable evidence of the benefits of implementing ISO20022.
“We are now in the initial analysis stage but by next year we will see more tangible case studies that show a return on investment, the percentage of straight-through-processing and the level of cost involved.”
Source: Sibos Online
Today, at SIBOS, ICBPI Group (Italy), Isabel (Belgium) and Equens (the Netherlands) announced that they will be joining forces in e-invoicing. The main goal of the founding partners – ICBPI and Equens – for this international initiative is to establish an open, multi-party, cross-border European e-invoicing network. The network must gain practical experience and actively contribute to the development of a standardised European e-invoicing product with maximum customer reach. For this purpose, ICBPI and Equens will set up one of the first cross-border pilots for e-invoicing networks within Europe. Service provider Isabel will be the first participant in this pilot.
European e-invoicing solution
ICBPI Group and Equens will cooperate to bridge local solutions, enabling banks, corporates and service providers to extend their reach in Europe. Equens will bridge domestic service providers in order to create European coverage in the distribution of e-invoicing. Isabel will contribute its e-invoicing knowledge and experience. Other parties are invited to join this initiative in order to expand the e-invoicing community as soon as possible.
The European Commission aims to establish a mature e-invoicing framework by 2010 at the latest. E-invoicing is a field that potentially offers excellent opportunities. Over 90 percent of all invoicing worldwide is still performed on paper. This usually involves an extremely inefficient process of printing, distributing, scanning and archiving paper and re-entering data. There are now hundreds of initiatives in place for electronic invoicing on a national level. A specific, joint and international initiative is therefore an important next step.
According to Equens, invoicing should be as easy as paying. Michael Steinbach, Chairman of Equens’ Board of Directors: “We strongly believe that staying ahead in the European payment-processing market requires looking beyond the payments discipline as such. It requires in-depth knowledge of the future needs of banks and their customers, of technology and of applications.”
“As a market leader in payments and electronic invoicing services in Italy, we are focused on providing the best services in the Customer-to-Bank area,” says Giuseppe Capponcelli, Managing Director of ICBPI Group. “This cross-border joint initiative on e-invoicing will allow us to be a first mover in the European scenario and to enhance our corporate banking services. The first International e-invoicing pilot is a win-win initiative that allows the founding partners to extend their reachability to other important trade markets, as well as enabling ICBPI to offer competitive advantages to banks and more benefits to their corporate customers.”
As one of the leading providers of e-invoicing and electronic banking services in Belgium, Isabel is the first participant in this European e-invoicing initiative. Isabel will draw on its technical and business expertise in the SME market to contribute to the success of this e-invoicing pilot project. “This pilot project is a great opportunity to enhance our experience in electronic invoicing and to promote interoperability at European level,” says Luc Van Hecke, International Sales Manager of Isabel S.A.
About Equens
Equens SE is the first truly pan-European, full-service payment processor. As one of the largest and most innovative payment processors in Europe, Equens is leading the market for future-proof payments and card processing solutions. Thanks to an extensive and competitive service portfolio and a flexible, customer-orientated approach, the company seamlessly meets the requirements of the European payments market. With an annual volume of 7.3 billion payments and 2.1 billion POS and ATM transactions, Equens has a market share of more than 15% within the euro zone. By continuously pursuing further growth and translating the achieved synergy benefits and economies of scale into advantages for the customer, the company contributes to the efficiency of European payments.
For additional information, please visit http://www.equens.com
About ICBPI
The ICBPI Group is made up of highly specialised companies focusing on the design, planning and management of services for banks, financial institutions and insurance companies. ICBPI S.p.A. is specialised in traditional and innovative payment services, as well as financial and administrative services offered according to a BPO model. ICBPI also offers innovative and efficient solutions for the outsourced management of domestic and international payment systems (SEPA-compliant) for banks, Public Administrations and other companies. Key Client is focused on electronic payment systems (Cards, POS and ATM) and with HelpPhone on customer care services through a contact center. Oasi is a market leader in services such as managed systems, financial transaction tracking, reporting to the Central Bank, anti-money laundering and regulation compliance, retirement insurance fund management and data security.
For additional information, please visit http://www.icbpi.it
About Isabel
Isabel is a professional software developer and service provider specialising in bank automation and electronic invoicing. Isabel’s solutions are used by many financial institutions and associations all over Europe. 30 banks and 110,000 companies in Belgium are using Isabel online services. The Zoomit application developed by Isabel is integrated with the Internet banking solutions of the most important banks. It enables millions of consumers and SMEs to take advantage of e-invoicing technology. Isabel was founded in 1995 and has 130 employees.
For more information, please visit http://www.isabel.eu
European payments processor Equens and Italy’s ICBPI Group are teaming up to establish a multi-party cross-border electronic invoicing network and have recruited Belgian service provider Isabel as the first pilot participant.
Equens says it will work with ICBPI to “bridge local solutions” in order to enable banks, corporates and service providers to extend their services in Europe.
Commenting on the project Giuseppe Capponcelli, MD, ICBPI Group, says: “This cross-border joint initiative on e-invoicing will allow us to be a first mover in the European scenario and to enhance our corporate banking services. The first international e-invoicing pilot is a win-win initiative that allows the founding partners to extend their reachability to other important trade markets.”
Isabel – which provides electronic banking and invoicing services – is the first to sign up, although other service providers will be invited to join the initiative says Equens.
Says Luc Van Hecke, international sales manager of Isabel: “This pilot project is a great opportunity to enhance our experience in electronic invoicing and to promote interoperability at European level.”
Equens estimates that over 90% of all invoicing worldwide is still paper-based.
The European Commission said last year that the introduction of the European electronic invoicing (EII) network could reduce supply chain costs by EUR243 billion across Europe and help to streamline business processes and drive innovation.
The introduction of an e-invoicing system for public sector firms in Denmark has saved an estimated EUR100-134 million per year, according to a report by an EC task force on e-invoicing.
The EC said it would set up a steering committee to oversee the establishment of a common invoicing framework that would allow businesses across the region to send invoices and receive corresponding payments electronically.
However separate research released by Sterling Commerce at Sibos has found that European businesses are being held back from implementing e-invoicing systems due to the complexity of addressing regulatory compliance requirements and legislation.
The survey of 400 IT managers in the UK, France, Germany and Italy conducted by Vanson Bourne found that the most pressing “e-invoicing concern” for businesses across Europe is “compliance with national e-invoicing legislation”.
In addition, more than half of the companies surveyed admitted they were concerned about supporting disparate e-invoicing systems across multiple geographies.
Chris Hayes, senior product marketing manager, Sterling Commerce, says: “The benefits of moving from paper-based to e-invoicing are widely known and accepted, yet the reality for many European businesses is that even for e-invoicing projects which do receive budget approval, a dependence on multiple solutions to handle compliance with multiple VAT and tax regulations across different territories, is ultimately undermining project success.”
Source: Sibos Online
The European Commission and the European Central Bank have welcomed a document published by the banking industry-backed European Payment Council that paves the way for a competitive single market for card payment card schemes by 2010.
The document, which takes the form of a Q&A, clarifies key aspects of compliance with the Sepa Cards Framework (SCF) for payment card schemes and banks, as well as the conditions for geographical coverage of card schemes within the Euro zone.
In particular, it rules that any national card scheme can be deemed to be compliant with the SCF if the cards it issues are technically and commercially capable of being accepted everywhere in the Sepa territory. Earlier interpretations of the Framework appeared to imply that a card scheme could only be deemed SCF-compliant if it covered all 31 Member states.
The ECB and Commission had expressed fears that such an interpretation would create a de facto monopoly for Mastercard’s Maestro debit card system and had been encouraging banks to set up an alternative scheme in competition. The ECB had become particularly concerned about moves by some banking associations to ditch domestic schemes in favour of internationally-accepted programmes by MasterCard and Visa.
The new guidance from the EPC clarifies the situation and makes it clear that the Sepa provisions for cards will allow many – possibly national and regional – schemes to develop into ‘SCF compliant’ schemes.
Nonetheless, the Commission warns that work is still needed by the EPC to develop a full set of technical standards allowing any card to be used, for payments in euro, potentially anywhere in the Sepa area.
“This is a precondition for the expansion of existing domestic debit card schemes across the Sepa countries, for the emergence of (a) new European card scheme(s), for pan-European processing and certification, and for market consolidation,” says the Commission in a statement.
“More competition would be very welcome,” the Commission continues. “The success of new initiatives will depend crucially on banks not simply selling the national debit card scheme to the existing schemes.”
The European Payment Council’s Q&A.
Electronic invoicing is currently being adopted in Finnish companies and in the public sector. This paper looks at electronic invoicing and reports the latest developments in the EUarena related to electronic invoicing. In addition, the study reports the findings from the case studies conducted during autumn 2007. These case studies focused on the implementation processes of electronic invoicing in Finnish companies and the public sector.
This white paper reports the results from the FullSEPA project which concentrates on promoting and researching electronic payments and electronic invoicing. FullSEPA is the first phase in the Real-Time Economy (RTE) program. The RTE program is a four-year program focusing on real-time technologies and business transactions. It is conducted in collaboration between the Helsinki School of Economics and TietoEnator, and it is funded by Tekes – Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation through Verso – Vertical Software Solutions programme.
Download the white paper (pdf)
Source: Tekes
Atos Origin’s Rob Pols (left) with Robert Heisterborg of ING Dutch banking heavyweight, ING, and Franco-Dutch IT services company, Atos Origin, have formed a partnership to offer back office payments processing to banks and corporates within Europe. The companies have been in extensive contact for the last two years, following ING’s outsourcing deal with Atos, and this partnership has been discussed for the last eight months.
Robert Heisterborg, global head of payments and cash management at ING wholesale banking, describes the offering as ‘a combination of the strengths of both organisations’. ‘ING has a leading position in the European payments and cash management area, and Atos Origin is a well established company helping out various banks and corporates in their IT environments,’ he says. According to Rob Pols, CEO of Atos Origin in the Netherlands, the vendor ‘saw a real opportunity in what ING has built with its SEPA factory’, and believes ‘payments are a very important strategic direction for Atos Origin as well as for ING. We definitely saw an area where we could both benefit from each other’s experience’.
The partnership will see ING act as the payments processor to corporate clients and to banks, with Atos Origin being the IT solution provider and dealing with the connectivity into the bank’s SEPA factory. ‘We know our bank; we know how we’ve organised it. We don’t know other banks and we’re not in a position to help other banks in changing their environment. That’s the strong part of teaming up with a partner like Atos,’ explains Heisterborg.
The target for this partnership is small to mid-sized European banks and corporates, but also big global banks where the euro is a relatively small currency. ING has made a considerable investment in its SEPA payments factory, something that this partnership should help it to get a return on investment from. For Pols, the question facing other banks and corporates is, ‘do they want to make that kind of investment when they can hook up with ING and Atos to make use of what has already been built?’.
Despite the obvious hype around the partnership, Heisterborg is taking a ‘realistic view’. ‘Taking these types of processes and ring fencing them, then airlifting part of the whole payments processing system and sharing it with another environment is not easy. There’s a lot of work to do.’
The firms have identified a list of 80 prospects, and Pols confirms they have ‘engaged with some’ and are ‘in bidding stages’ with others. He believes that the first win for the new partnership is ‘not too far away’.
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