WP 61/2009: E-Payment products and value-added services – moving towards an innovative European internal market |  |
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| Author(s): | Amundsen, Elin; Kalsone, Dace | | Subject: | Payment and settlement systems | | Type: | Working Papers | | Year of publication: | 2009 | | Date of publication: | 03/26/2009 |
Central banks analyse issues concerning retail payments – or just
payments – to be able to promote optimal means of payment. Over the
years, electronic payments – i.e. payments initiated and settled
electronically – have gradually replaced manual paper-based payments on
the grounds of convenience, security and efficiency. Moreover, payments
become more efficient when services are offered to customers both before
and after payment. These so-called value-added services (VAS) are fully
electronic services such as e-invoicing and e-reconciliation, which bring
time and cost-savings for all participants, as paper-based services and
manual work are replaced. In this paper we prove a clear-cut distinction
between electronic payment products (e-payments) and VAS. We use the
so-called Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) project as a case study and
discuss its current state of fatigue. Based on practical experience in Europe
we conclude that the SEPA fatigue can be overcome by real-time
settlement for payments and VAS supporting end-to-end (e2e)
straight-through processing (STP).
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