The template will allow firms to assess whether their SEPA offerings are aligned with the corporate requirements and detailed specifications that underlie the TWIST standards, which include the ISO 20022 message range used in the SEPA rulebooks developed by the EPC. There are two benchmark templates, one is for banks wishing to test in-house developments and third party vendors and the second is for software vendors anxious to prove their systems functionality.

Gary Wright, CEO of B.I.S.S. Research and creator of the B.I.S.S. business benchmarking concept, said: "Banks and service providers have started the implementation of SEPA, which will change the face of banking payments across the EU. We are delighted to collaborate with TWIST in producing these benchmark templates to assess the functionality of SEPA related service offerings by banks and software vendors. We have researched the market for vendors offering systems to meet the SEPA requirements and have been amazed at the range and depth of vendors offering solutions. The B.I.S.S. SEPA benchmarking will highlight the systems that have genuine functional capability to support corporate requirements for SEPA as embedded in the TWIST designs. We anticipate the resulting B.I.S.S. reports will bring together proven SEPA systems supplied by banks and software vendors with most importantly the corporate treasurer's expectations from SEPA, highlighting any gaps between Banks and their corporate customers understanding of SEPA benefits. The benchmarking will include SEPA issues concerning Direct Debits, Credit Transfers, liquidity management and payment scheduling. It will delve deeply into the practical issues around XML and ISO 20022 and aim to combine banking aspirations with corporate customer’s needs. We are delighted to be collaborating with the TWIST organisation, which is leading the way in representing the financial supply chain incorporating end-to-end payments processing. We are also excited to be working with TWIST which is assisting B.I.S.S. Research in assembling the industry panel that will be involved in the benchmarking assessments."

Tom Buschman, chairman of TWIST, said, "Now that the Payment Services Directive (PSD) has been agreed as a detailed legal framework for the processing of payments across the EU, the focus shifts to the implementation of these rules. The SEPA Rulebooks of the European Payment Council for credit transfers and direct debits, which are based on the ISO 20022 message standards as jointly developed by SWIFT and TWIST, are focused on interbank arrangements. The co-ordination of implementation with customers is left to national communities in all EU Member States. It is for these communities and individual banks to understand corporate requirements for payments and structure SEPA-based services that meet these requirements. Launching a template, focused on corporate requirements for payments and applying available open standards could help increase the alignment between implementing banks, in turn accelerating the delivery of the benefits of SEPA to banks and their corporate customers. We are very pleased with the collaboration with the EACT in creating the template and to have found in B.I.S.S. Research an active TWIST member that is willing to support this process."