The pilot will serve as an example to ensure that companies in the Netherlands are ready before the scheduled end dates, for the submission and processing of the new European payment products. Both Raet and Equens have noted that organisations are not developing sufficient activities to ensure that they will be ready in time for the implementation of European payments.

The introduction of European payment products will completely change the technical processing of transactions, through, amongst other things, the use of new file formats, interfaces and BICs/IBANs. SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) will replace national payment products such as Overboeking (transfer) and Incasso (collection). SCT (for salary payments, etc.) will be introduced on 1 February 2013, and SDD on 1 February 2014.

As the market leader, Raet processes the monthly salary and pension payments for more than 12,500 organisations and more than 2 million people in the Netherlands. This service is characterised by a high level of reliability, speed and efficiency for current payments. These benefits are in part attributable to the fact that Raet, and other similar service providers, only have to submit a single file to Equens, irrespective of the number of banks processing the transactions. Additionally, payments are transmitted via one interface and one secure connection.

The aim of the pilot is to preserve these specific service characteristics during the migration to SEPA and, where possible, improve them. The partnership will enable salary and pension payments to be processed quickly, efficiently and reliably, not only in the Netherlands, but also throughout Europe. Foreign branches of companies will also be able to submit payments directly to Equens, which is not possible in the current situation. As a result of central and direct delivery, companies will be able to realise significant annual cost savings.

Cees van den Heijkant, CEO at Raet, commented: "Our organisation has been preparing our systems for European payments in accordance with SEPA standards for some time. As a result, we are already in a position to pilot the exchange of payments in cooperation with Equens, in accordance with the new European payment standards."

Michael Steinbach, Chairman of Equens' Board of Directors, commented: "We are very happy to be working towards an efficient transition to the Single Euro Payments Area in cooperation with Raet by means of this pilot project. The pilot project will make Raet a clear example for other large Dutch companies. Equens will use this transition to expand its current technical solution in the Netherlands, Directe Aanlevering (direct delivery), to a European level by offering an equivalent product at the international level in cooperation with banks: Corporate Payment Services. This offering will make it very easy for businesses and organisations to send and receive SEPA payments to and from other countries through one channel."