DNB expects SEPA migration peak in December 2013

23 October 2013

SEPA monitor for small and medium-sized businesses: awareness, preparations and attitudes in autumn 2013.

The migration to SEPA is the largest change in account-to-account payments to date, even larger than the introduction of the euro. Thousands of people are working on the migration and the introduction of entirely new infrastructure every day. DNB’s autumn SEPA monitor among small and medium-sized businesses shows positive developments in awareness of SEPA, preparations for it and attitudes towards it. However, the Netherlands is not yet ready. DNB expects the migration to peak in the final month of this year.

Awareness is high

The proportion of businesses that have heard of SEPA has risen, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises, where it now stands at 86%. More businesses, 79%, also have a general or complete understanding of the changes SEPA will bring for their organisation. However, there are clear differences between sectors, with business and financial services scoring highest.

Smaller businesses lag in preparations

Since the previous measurement in spring 2013, there has been a sharp increase in the number of businesses that have started preparing for the new standards for credit transfers and direct debits. According to the SEPA monitor, only the very smallest businesses with fewer than five employees have not started at all.
A relatively large number of businesses still have no schedule for moving to European credit transfers, at 27%, or European direct debits, at 41%. These are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 20 employees. By contrast, the great majority of medium-sized businesses with more than 20 employees have now scheduled their migration to European credit transfers.

Attitudes towards SEPA

Businesses are neutral to moderately positive about the expected impact of SEPA on their own organisation. They mainly expect benefits for international payments. Their principal concern is the risk of errors in credit transfers made by customers.

Acceptgiro and direct debit use declines

The introduction of SEPA is bringing several developments with specific consequences for Dutch payments. The typically Dutch Acceptgiro will be replaced by the IBAN Acceptgiro by 1 January 2019 at the latest. Among current medium-sized business issuers, 27% have already indicated that they will not switch to the IBAN Acceptgiro.
The European direct debit replaces the current Dutch direct debit. Among small and medium-sized businesses currently collecting direct debits, 23% will not make the transition and will instead stop using direct debits altogether. The great majority of these businesses receive fewer than 1,000 direct debit payments a year.