Over the last few weeks several examples have emerged as to how corporates, of all sizes across the region, are using the bank portals and EB services as part of their SEPA solution to ensure they are compliant by 1st February 2013 and are able to cope in the conversion period. 

• many Swedish corporate are planning to create XML files from their ERPs and then upload the files to banks using the supplied EB tools or bank portals. 
• SMEs, who typically use a single bank, are just planning to upload their payment files as normal via the banks’ EB links and/or portals and let the bank do the conversions. They ask what is the problem? (They’ll find out when the banks start charging them for the conversion. Just hope the grace period is long enough to do the required internal conversions.)
• some global corporates are using the bank portals increasingly for general information, customer service queries, receiving on-line billing reports and other reports. The big corporates' payment volumes are, mostly, too big to go through a portal, but the number of customer service queries are bound to grow in January/February 2014. The portals could come into their own.

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Banks have been trying for years to drive corporate traffic to their portals. The SEPA conversion period will be a key demonstration of whether they really are good enough.