Which services will be
affected by SEPA?

Cards

• Charge cards issued by banks must be such that the cardholder can use them similarly everywhere within the SEPA area.
• Charge cards tied to an account (debit cards and ATM cards) will be replaced by an international debit card.
• Shops can accept them everywhere within the euro area.
• Shops will require compatible payment terminals.

Credit transfers

• The IBAN and BIC are the customer’s and bank’s identifier information in SEPA credit transfers. The IBAN and BIC have been mandatory in cross-border credit transfers within the EU and EEA since 1 January 2007.
• As of 1 July 2010, the IBAN and BIC will have to be provided on domestic invoices and credit transfer forms.
• Along with SEPA credit transfers, file-based payment services in line with the new XML ISO20022 standard will be available to customers. The new standard will require changes to customers’ systems.
• In order to transfer XML data, customers will be provided with a WebServices channel and security protocol, which are better suited to this data than the current PATU security protocol.
• Finnish banks will supplement the European SEPA credit transfer with additional services in order to maintain their current domestic service level. Additional services include a standardised method of presenting domestic references in payment messages and transmission of the payment date to the payee to enable calculation of overdraft interest.
• At the end of 2010 two new versions of the bank barcode will be introduced. The new versions support the use of the IBAN and an international or domestic reference.
• A new international reference standard will introduce the benefits of reference payments to cross-border payments. It will be possible to start using the international reference in Finland as of 1 December 2010 on both domestic and cross-border invoices.

• SEPA direct debit will differ significantly from the current domestic direct debit.
• The payer will directly provide the invoicing party with a power of attorney for direct debiting and the payer can change the power of attorney directly with the invoicing party without providing any information to the bank.
• The authorisation can also be given for non-recurring direct debiting.
• Direct debiting will not be final, but the payer can request a transaction cancellation up to eight weeks after payment.
• SEPA direct debit will be launched in the SEPA area at the end of 2009.
• According to Finnish banks, the European direct debiting model involves risks and added costs compared to more developed payment methods. As a result, we recommend that Finnish direct debiting be replaced by the e-invoice services.
• The Finnish direct debiting service can be used after 2010.