Background
The Credit Transfer/SEPA functionality in DC1 is developed due to requirements originating from European banks which need to be able to identify electronically transferred payment information. This functionality is driven by the A/P payment mode and is used in the A/P payment proposal routine in order to create the payment orders according to the selected A/P payment mode and XML scheme.
Credit Transfer is the complete transfer functionality (for both domestic and foreign use) in which SEPA is a part. SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area), an EU integration initiative, is the area where citizens, companies and other economic participants can make and receive payments in euro, within Europe, whether between or within national boundaries under the same basic conditions, rights and obligations, regardless of their location.
Schemes
Two schemes apply for the Credit Transfer/SEPA functionality. The information contained in the schemes is determined by the standard or local guidelines outlined according to the UNIFI ISO 20022 Payments Messages CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV02 (Msg ID pain.001.001.02), which is found in the ISO MDR 2006, and CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV03 (Msg ID pain.001.001.03), which is found in the ISO MDR 2009.
- Credit Transfer schemes (CT) define the format of the transferred payments. For the scheme IDs *STD (standard version) and BE (country version) the CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV02 (Msg ID pain.001.001.02) applies. For the scheme IDs *S09 (standard version) and BE09 (country version) the CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV03 (Msg ID pain.001.001.03) applies.
- SEPA Credit Transfer schemes (SCT) define the format of the transferred SEPA payments (see further below). This scheme is developed by the European Payments Council (EPC) and is based on the Credit Transfer scheme. The information contained in the scheme is determined by the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Customer-to-Bank Implementation Guideline.
The SCT scheme involves the following features:
The scheme enables payment services providers to offer a core and basic Credit Transfer service throughout SEPA whether for single or bulk payments. The scheme’s standards facilitate payment initiation, processing and reconciliation based on straight-through-processing. The scope is limited to payments in euro within 32 SEPA countries; the credit institution executing the Credit Transfer must be a scheme participant. There is no cap to the amount of the payment carried out under the scheme. For the scheme IDs *STD (standard version) and the BE, DE, FI, FR and NL (country versions) the CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV02 (Msg ID pain.001.001.02) applies. For the scheme IDs *S09 (standard version) and the BE09, DE09, FI09, FR09, IT09 and NL09 (country versions) the CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV03 (Msg ID pain.001.001.03) applies.
What is a SEPA payment?
The following constitutes a SEPA payment:
- The payment is made in the ISO currency code EUR.
- Paid amount >0.
- For the ISO MDR 2006, the only permissible account and bank identifier for SEPA transactions are the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and the BIC (Bank Identifier Code) which are mandatory.
For the ISO MDR 2009, the only permissible bank account for SEPA transactions is the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) which is mandatory. The only permissible bank identifier is the BIC code (Bank Identifier Code) which is optional.
- The payment must not contain more than a maximum of 140 characters of remittance information. The information can be unstructured (free text) or structured.
All other types of payments use the Credit Transfer scheme (CT).
Roles
The UNIFI ISO 20022 Payments Messages CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV02 (Msg ID pain.001.001.02) and CustomerCreditTransferInitiationV03 (Msg ID pain.001.001.03) hold five roles. These roles can be played by one and the same actor, or by different actors. See Setting up the Credit Transfer/SEPA functionality for details.
| Role | Description | Actors/Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| Initiating party | The party sending the message. | In DC1, this role is equal to the company. |
| Debtor | The debit account owner, i.e. the sender. | In DC1, this role is equal to the company.
The Debtor’s agent is equal to the company’s bank. |
| Creditor | The payee/supplier, i.e. the party receiving the payment; the credit account owner. | In DC1, this role is equal to the payee/supplier in the Business partner file. Either the payee is the supplier or the supplier uses a factoring company. The payment should then be sent to the factoring company, and not to the supplier.
The Creditor’s agent is equal to the payee/supplier’s bank in the Business partner file. |
| Ultimate creditor | The supplier holding the debt. | In DC1, this role is equal to the supplier in the Business partner file. |
| Ultimate debtor | The party that owes the cash to the creditor as a result of received goods or services. | This role does not exist in DC1. |
Websites
The following two documents are available for downloading from the following websites:
- The Message Definition Reports (MDR) are available on: UNIFI ISO 20022 Payments Messages.
- The document SCT Scheme Customer-to-Bank Implementation Guidelines is available on: European Payments Council, EPC documents. A list of available documents is shown where you click the link to the applicable guidelines. Use the following link to find out more: Shortcut to the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT).