Central banks of EU member states are unhappy with a European Commission’s decision to extend the deadline for SEPA migration by six months says the Times of Malta.
Payments within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) have been on the cards for years now and business were meant to migrate to the new format based on the IBAN, a harmonized account identification code, by February 1 of this year however the European Commission has delayed the deadline by 6 months under concerns that businesses are not ready. Countries felt to be particularly behind are Malta, Germany, Ireland and Italy.
Other countries like Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries migrated some time ago. Instead, the EC proposes a “transitional period” until August 1 which would allow banks and payment institutions to continue processing payments in both new and old formats.
The European Central Bank, the European Payments Council and the European Banking Federation have all taken a stand against the extension. The ECB in particular feels that the “The most recent information suggests that the pace of migration is high and accelerating and the vast majority of stakeholders will complete their migration on time”.
