Open Questions: Food for Thought

You are in: Industries We Serve

• Financial Services
  • Our Financial Services Solutions
    • Payments
      • Payments Solutions
      • 2007 World Payments Report Overview
      • Major Findings of the 2007 Report
      • Europe Needs an “Any Card at Any Terminal Solution”
      • Towards an Open Architecture
      • The Choice of a Payments Strategy
      • The Emergence of Strategic Sourcing in Payments
      • Open Questions: Food for Thought
      • Methodology
      • ABN AMRO Transaction Banking
      • European Financial Management & Marketing Association

Concerning the Implementation of SEPA

• Version 2.3 of the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook imposes a mandate management scheme based on a creditor-initiated process. How will countries where the debtor bank manages mandates deal with this new mandate flow?
• The SEPA Testing Framework specifies the steps players must take to ensure self-assessed compliance in each banking community. However, how will end-to-end tests be reliably conducted today at a cross-border level?
• In most eurozone countries today, the public sector is closely linked to national central banks. How could local governments’ actions help extend competition in that area of the economy?
• What incentives would encourage banks to help achieve the necessary critical mass of SEPA payments? If no incentive is proposed to encourage end users to use SEPA instruments, should the deadline for arriving at critical mass be postponed to the end of 2012? Are e-SEPA and other initiatives to achieve end-to-end straight through processing (STP) the right incentives to help users reach critical mass?

Concerning Cards

• How may European banks and national schemes respond to the European Central Bank request regarding a new card scheme for debit cards?

Concerning Cash

• To what extent would a rise in card use lower cash use? What impact would the growth of e- and m-payments have on small transactions?
• With cash becoming a European issue, and the risk that future m-payments might be developed by individual players, what is the best strategy to ensure a successful alternative to cash? 

Concerning the Impact on European Banks’ Business Models

• With what market share should a bank expect to generate sufficient cash flows to finance its own transformation?
• What is the best strategic position a particular bank can take to exploit the expected growth in transactions volume caused by the SEPA and transform payments into an attractive offering for prospective clients?
• How will big banks react to the possible competition with big automatic clearing houses (ACHs) for the processing of volumes?