EBA Clearing, a major Pan-European payment infrastructure solutions provider, has introduced new optional services on the STEP2 platform to meet the requirements of its users for the single euro payments area (SEPA).

On 16 November, the SEPA direct debit (SDD) core D-1 option and the change account identification (CAI) option were implemented, which:

• shortens the regular timelines for sending SDD Core collections to the debtor's bank, from a minimum of five days before due date for new or one-off direct debits and two days for recurring direct debits to just one day.
• allows banks to inform each other via a standardised Identification Modification Advice (IMA) message about changes in the bank or account details of a customer.

In addition to the launch of the November release, EBA Clearing has also activated an optional evening cycle for the STEP2 credit transfer service. Four Irish banks have started to use this cycle, which allows them to send payment messages until 21:00, Central European Time (CET) for delivery to the beneficiary banks before midnight.

The upgrade of the STEP2 functionality is part of an enhancement programme geared at readying the platform for a substantial part of the large domestic volumes that will migrate to SEPA before February 2014. The programme is evolving the capacity, resilience and functionality of STEP2 as a key processing infrastructure for SEPA.

Earlier this month, EBA Clearing announced that it had partnered with IBM and SIA to provide a third processing site for STEP2 by the end of next year ahead of the SEPA migration end date.