Posts Tagged ‘SEPA Payments’
German Retail Payments: The Deutsche Bundesbank’s clearing service
As the cornerstone of the German financial system, the Deutsche Bundesbank provides a cost-effective, high-performance platform for non-urgent Euro retail payments (the English term for Massenzahlungsverkehr), known as the EMZ (Elektronischer Massenzahlungsverkehr). It serves as a reliable, neutral infrastructure for credit institutions and public authorities. The German Retail Payment System The Deutsche Bundesbank’s RPS is…
Read MoreHow should AI risks be managed under DORA?
On December 18, 2025, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) published a guidance document for regulated financial companies, meant to provide support for using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The document isn’t mandatory but is supposed to make the regulatory requirements for using AI more understandable in light of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). This article…
Read MorePONTES
Pontes (Latin: bridges) is the name of a pilot project of the Eurosystem that enables the settlement of large customer financial transactions in central bank money using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The aim is to build a bridge between modern market platforms and the existing TARGET services in order to strengthen interoperability in European payments.…
Read MoreAPPIA
Appia and Pontes: The Eurosystem’s DLT strategy for wholesale payments After extensive exploratory work with over 50 tests in 2024, the Eurosystem has set the course for the future of the tokenized financial market. In June 2025, the ECB Governing Council adopted a two-pronged strategy to massively advance the settlement of DLT-based wholesale transactions in…
Read MoreThe Downfall of the Card Industry
The global card industry will certainly not go under any time soon, but at least in the Euro countries it will lose business from 2025. SEPA Instant Payments (SCT Inst) will be able to replace card payments in many cases. The article explains why this is the case. Cashless Payment with Card or Smartphone Fewer…
Read MoreStatus of the digital Euro (D€)
Anyone travelling across the eurozone can make cash payments in Euros everywhere without any problems, but not cashless payments. The individual Euro countries and their banks continue to maintain their national payment systems (such as the girocard in Germany), which usually cannot be used across borders (unless the card is combined with an additional “scheme”).…
Read MoreSCT Inst Bulk Processing
Retail payment transactions generally are not handled as single transactions but with bulk files. Corporates in the SEPA area submit payments to their house bank in pain messages. This XML structure allows the creation of so-called bulks, i.e. a large number of payments can be transmitted in a structured manner. The SEPA Bank converts the…
Read MoreThe Deutsche Bundesbank’s SEPA Clearer
With the TARGET system, the EU has created the infrastructure for clearing and settling cross-border payments between Euro countries. The vast majority of transactions take place domestically and here the respective national bank is required to offer efficient solutions to the banks in their country. The Bundesbank’s system for these retail payments is called SEPA…
Read MoreEPC November Release 2023
SEPA Name check
Anyone making a credit transfer (or direct debit) in the SEPA area enters the name of the recipient (or payer), but this is currently not matched by the bank. Simple transposed numbers are effectively prevented by the IBAN check digit. However, if fraudsters send a forged invoice to a victim, for example, the recipient’s name…
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