Your payments and direct debits in SEPA format

SEPA is the Single Euro Payments Area, which was established in 2002 to harmonize national and cross-border payment instruments. The format is used for SEPA Credit Transfers (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debits (SDD) in Europe.

Payment methods harmonisation thanks to SEPA

SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is the single European area for payment in euros within which payment methods have been harmonised. SEPA was put in place to simplify payment management, reduce processing and banking costs and reduce processing times. The SEPA zone includes 37 countries:

The 27 Member States of the EU
Iceland, United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

Economic agents in these countries (companies, traders, individuals, public authorities) are able to make payments in euros in identical conditions within this area as easily as they can in their own country.

The SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT)

The SEPA transfer (SCT, SEPA Credit Transfer) is a payment transaction in euros between accounts located in the SEPA zone. It has the following features:

The destination account and bank are identified using the combined BIC/IBAN
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Turnaround time of 1 working day

In recent years, a new payment method has appeared: the SEPA Instant Payment. It allows you to make a payment in euros in less than 10 seconds, 24 hours a day. Since July 1, 2020, the instant payment limit has been set at 100,000 euros (previously 15,000 euros). This is an optional service available in most banks.

The SEPA in Exabanque

The SEPA in Exabanque enables creditors to carry out debit transactions in euros from customer (debtor) accounts in all countries within the SEPA zone.

In order to set up Sepa in Exabanque, the creditor must:

Have a SEPA Creditor ID (ICS) provided by their bank
Set up Exabanque authorisations called “mandates” and have these signed by the debtor
Have the debtor’s BIC/IBAN banking information
Inform the debtor of the direct debit to come (pre-notification)
Send the SDD order to the bank

Every SEPA in Exabanque includes the following information:

The unique mandate reference (UMR): a code which enables each debt to be identified (set by the creditor)
The payment status (sequential status):
- OneOff: for a direct debit made once only
- First: for the first direct debit of a series
- Recurrent: for the recurring transactions in a series
- Final: for the final direct debit in a series
The mandate signature date

*Since 2016, first status (FRST) is optional. All direct debits now have a Recurring (RCUR) status.

The SEPA SCT in the Exabanque software

Exabanque enables you to:

Enter BICs/IBANs into the database
Set up lists of SEPA transfers and remittances
Generate and send files in XML ISO 20022 format

The SEPA SDD in the Exabanque software

Exabanque enables to:

Enter BICs/IBANs into the database
Set up lists of SEPA in Exabanque and remittances
Save the mandate data
Update the mandate data upon each transmission to the bank
Generate and send files in XML ISO 20022 format

Exabanque is compatible with the formats used by all European banking institutions: pain.001.001.02, pain.001.001.03 and pain.001.002.03. For France, the program has a BIC/IBAN module, which automatically converts the RIB (account information) into the BIC/IBAN. It also allows the reformatting of transfers in CFONB format into SEPA transfers in one simple click.