The SIX Group, the Swiss financial market infrastructure provider, is now offering a Single Euro Payments Area-compatible Direct Debit service for Swiss clients and others across the continent. Launched in cooperation with the SECB Swiss Euro Clearing Bank, Frankfurt, it starts on 2 November 2009, in readiness for the official unveiling of SEPA DD. The original launch date has, of course, been called into question by the French SEPA Committee's decision to announce a year-long delay but the jockeying for position in the payments space is still continuing as various competitors hunt for volume.

The new joint service was developed by SIX Interbank Clearing and SIX Paynet, together with the SECB, on behalf of the Swiss financial centre and with the participation of Swiss financial institutions. It provides banks of all sizes with the option of outsourcing the processing of SEPA direct debits, ensuring easy compliance with the technical requirements of the scheme.

• Meanwhile, EBA Clearing is launching an Implementation Forum for participants in its rival SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) Services. The central objective is to ensure a smooth start-up for core SDD services and business-to-business (B"B) payment instruments. The EBA Clearing SDD processing Service will go live on the company's PE-ACH (pan-european account clearing house) STEP2 platform on 2 November 2009. Other platforms, following the 'interoperable' route from Equens, VocaLink and other rivals will also be in place for the payments revolution due to begin with SDD - the fight for processing volumes is already well underway.

The EBA Clearing SDD Implementation Forum will serve as a communication arena for banks taking part in STEP2 SDD processing, enabling a regular exchange of views on SDD matters in the months preceding and following the 'go live' in November. The idea is to optimise launch preparations and service monitoring activities, as well as to be able to remedy any teething problems centrally. Similar forums from rival processors can be expected.

Commenting on his own firm's move, Gilbert Lichter, CEO of EBA Clearing, said: "The Implementation Forum will help our participating banks ensure reliable and smooth end-to-end processing of new direct debit instruments from the start."

Other payments news
• In Ireland, the Irish Payments Services Organisation (IPSO) is improving the management of the country's National Sort Code (NSC) Directory by installing Accuity/CB.Net's CodeX Code Management Platform. The aim is to enhance control ahead of a possible future addition of identifying and routing BICs to make the database fully SEPA compliant.

The NSC data includes bank sort code numbers and related bank branch information used by IPSO members in payment systems and clearing in the Republic of Ireland. It's available through a web search facility that offers direct access to over 1,200 Irish sort codes, as well as through standard download formats to benefit IPSO participants and the Irish payment community. The new platform reduces the administrative and logistical workload for IPSO and provides better content control and scalability for the future.

• The Banks' Association of Turkey (TBB) is upgrading their financial messaging system, used by 48 banks, to increase automation, flexibility and straight through processing (STP) capabilities. The Logica platform can handle five million messages a day.

The new Logica financial messaging platform deployed by TBB has already been rolled out across 10 international and 38 Turkish banks in just two months. The migration enables the banks to increase STP rates by automating validation and allowing them to develop their own message validation rules. This increases the reliability of the network, as fewer messages are rejected while optimised testing should improve the quality and time to market of new financial instruments, such as SEPA DD. The need for manual intervention is also reduced resulting in lower costs for the banks. By improving the efficiency, reliability and cost-effectiveness of their financial messaging, the banks can deliver a better customer service.

• Schwyzer Kantonalbank (SZKB), the state bank of the Swiss canton of Schwyz, is using SunGard's Ambit Mint messaging solution to provide connectivity to a number of financial networks, including SWIFT, SIC, euroSIC and SECOM, helping the bank improve operational efficiency, manage risk and reduce costs.

The SunGard Ambit Messaging solution, of which Mint is a part, is a global offering that is able to handle SWIFTNet services as well as traditional SWIFT FIN and SIC/Secom Swiss local market clearing connectivity. It also includes versions of the ISO 20022 and ISO 15022 data dictionaries for MT-MX message coexistence. This coverage and flexibility was the reason why SZKB chose it.

Alphons Lindauer, information technology director for SZKB, commented: "Many Kantonal banks in Switzerland are using Ambit Mint to connect to SWIFT and Swiss financial networks. We have opted to continue our commitment with SunGard due to the strong trust we have developed with them."

• Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken (NVB), the Netherlands Bankers' Association, is introducing a new nationwide IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code) look-up service for all Dutch citizens and corporates. Developed and operated by Experian Payments, the service will speed up migration to SEPA by ensuring individuals and businesses have the correct bank and account data to make successful payments within the Netherlands.

Many Dutch individuals and corporates are not in a position to take advantage of the benefits of SEPA because their payment instructions currently do not include IBANs and BICs, which are mandatory for SEPA compliance. NVB has taken the initiative by providing a single, co-ordinated solution that all Dutch banks can offer to their retail and corporate customers. Thanks to the solution, users can request the correct IBAN and BIC information using an online web service, the telephone via a voice response system or via an SMS message. A dedicated corporate web service allows Dutch businesses to update batch files of BBANs (Basic Bank Account Numbers) with the correct corresponding IBANs and BICs for SEPA compliance.

Frank Taal, Board Member of the Foundation IBAN Service NL through which the service is funded and managed, explains: "It is important that the transition to SEPA runs as smoothly as possible for the Dutch banks and their customers. That is why we looked for the most effective, robust and reliable solution."

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