The fourth largest bank in Denmark, Sydbank, is one of the banks that complies with the new SEPA requirements:

"Now, we are ready to handle payments in euro within the SEPA framework on behalf of our customers. We experience a demand for a solution from companies with an international scope and private customers that will enable them to make euro payments. So, today we are proud to offer our customers the opportunity to make use of the SEPA direct debit service", says Niels Skylvad, Director, Sydbank.

"We can help Danish as well as foreign banks to become SEPA compliant. With a PBS in-a-box solution, we make it easy for banks to handle their customers' euro payments", says Per Terp, Director, International Payments, PBS A/S.

PBS is the service provider for the banks when combining a SEPA-compliant direct debit product with advanced additional services; including - for a start - surveillance facilities, interactive information etc. The core part of the solution is developed through a partnership with the Belgian company Clear2Pay. Mark Hartley, VP Strategy and Marketing, Clear2Pay says: "Together with PBS we can offer banks an end-to-end solution embracing all necessary features such as mandate management, R-transactions etc. The robust Services Oriented Architecture of the Open Payment Framework offers PBS the scalability they were looking for. Today they will offer the service to over 94 banks, but as recent research highlights, SDD processing is a volume-based activity and many more banks in the EU zone will consider outsourcing this service to leading processors such as PBS."