EACHA Payments Forum

During the last week of February, I had the pleasure of attending the EACHA Payments Forum in Frankfurt. This conference was remarkable. I have seldom enjoyed such an intense focus on payments and it was an unexpected bonus to be able to step out of my role as a payments consultant and really see SEPA and European payments from the perspective of an ACH, CSM or payment processor.

The difference when looking at the market from this perspective is palpable. For example, in addition to the usual discussions about innovation by non-banks and how banks can respond, there was a discussion about whether CSMs should be innovative, or simply support their customers and shareholders (the banks, namely) in their ambitions.

The conference had extensive presentations about the SEPA end game and  interoperability, which is a key focus of EACHA.  EACHA has paid considerable attention to interoperability in recent years -- and for good reason. It is, on the one hand, a competitive necessity, but can also be helpful to banks in reducing cost and risk. Interoperability increases competition by enabling alternative providers to access the same infrastructure. Additionally, there were a number of presentations about  the ability of CSMs to deliver payments to banks and customers that are not members of their clearings. 

I was struck by how EACHA has blossomed over the past few years from a closed club of ACH executives into an organisation that is contributing to the standardisation and harmonisation of European payments and the public debate surrounding this topic. It is a positive development and should be appreciated by more within the industry.