News

The central validation platform of the Swiss financial center supports software producers in validating data structure and image files for Swiss QR Codes on the QR-bill.

"Where did that darned reference number go?" Many people will be wondering what to do with the QR-bill while holding it for the first time. Retail banks, in particular, must decide early on when and how they will familiarize their private customers with the QR-bill.

The rules published on 15 November 2018 in German for producing and processing the payment part with Swiss QR Code and receipt are now also available in English and French.

The QR-bill's design is definitely fixed. Having taken into account the needs of all market participants, the new implementation guidelines are published. The time until the first QR-bill is sent on 30 June 2020 must be used to make the technical adaptations at banks, software providers and also corporate clients.

Zewo, the Swiss charity foundation, informs its member organizations about the actual state of the ISO 20022 changeover.

In the latest edition of its online magazine “insight #3.18”, the Swiss Bankers Association accentuate that in the last month, the conversions to ISO 20022 have been increasing strongly and steadily – not least thanks to the excellent advices from banks.

On its SME Portal, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO reports on the ISO 20022 standard changeover status at the SMEs and the on-going consultation on the QR-bill.

The public consultation process by PaymentStandards.CH to the planned revision of the Swiss Implementation Guidelines QR-bill is running from today until 23 September 2018. The revision of eight points is aimed at adapting the Guidelines to the current market requirements.

The Swiss financial center set itself the goal of harmonization of payments and to make them more efficient and economical for all market participants. With the successful introduction of ISO 20022 among corporate customers, it has come an important step closer to that goal.

Immobilia, the monthly publication of the Swiss Real Estate Association SVIT informs its 2000 real estate member companies about the harmonization of Swiss payments.

The responsible bodies of the financial center will communicate the exact launching date of the QR-bill in Switzerland the middle of this year. The implementation of the ISO 2002 standard is the prerequisite for a smooth data transmission in the QR-bill from a technical point of view. All banks changed over their systems to ISO 20022 last year. The switchover of business customers' accounting software to ISO 20022 by 30 June 2018 is the next important milestone. In order to give customers, software partners and banks enough time for the technical preparation of the QR-bill after this milestone, the QR-bill will not be launched before mid-2019.

Swiss television SRF 1 will broadcast the business magazine program ECO on Monday, 29 January at 10.25 pm, featuring the current state of harmonization of payment traffic in Switzerland.

In the latest edition of its online magazine, the Swiss Bankers Association gets to the point: "It is indispensable for each bank to support corporate customers with information and practical implementation of ISO 20022 to ensure the scheduled changeover until June 2018."

On its SME Portal, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO sheds light on the most important findings of the representative survey regarding the standardization and harmonization in Swiss payments.

On its SME Portal, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO documents the experiences of SMEs changing over to the ISO 20022 standard.

208 banks have completed the migration to the new ISO 20022 technology standard on schedule. This means all participants on the SIX Interbank Clearing payment system are ready for the next step: switchover of payment transactions for their business customers by the end of June 2018. From this time onward, all payment traffic will be processed using only ISO 20022.

Payment traffic harmonization is key in terms of helping drive the process of digital transformation sweeping all sections of society and the economy. The two minutes clip summarizes the most important new developments and shows what will change for corporate and private clients.

The changeover to ISO 20022 is being driven forward. This is reflected in the readiness status of the central players. There are already 77 banks and some 160 ERP software partners that support ISO 20022 in the customer-bank sector.

The datasheet has been updated to reflect the latest information – particularly with regard to the guidelines for the transition phase, during which the use of the current payment slips and the new payment part of the QR-bill is possible.

Zewo, the Swiss charity foundation, about the benefits of the new QR-bill.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO sheds light on the QR-bill and its repercussions on the SMEs.

The Swiss harmonization activities are being followed with great interest from abroad. Today's highlight is a blog entry by the European Payments Council (EPC).

PaymentStandards.CH publishes the technical features of the QR-bill 27 April 2017. From January 2019, this replaces the orange and red payment slips currently in use.

Zewo, the Swiss charity foundation, introduces the harmonization of Swiss payments to its member organizations.

A new awareness campaign by PaymentStandards.CH – launched on 30 March 2017.

The lists give details on the supported message types in the context of payment transactions harmonization.

On its SME Portal, SECO explains the background to the harmonization.

Swiss television SRF1 will broadcast the business magazine program ECO on Monday, 13 February at 10.25 pm, featuring the harmonization of payment traffic in Switzerland.

Swiss financial institutions, their IT partners and all other parties that are driving the migration to the ISO 20022 standard are going about it systematically and with expertise. That is the conclusion by the opinion and market research institute, gfs.bern, after evaluating a public survey.

It was decided in October 2016 to revise the inpayment slip with data code planned for mid-2018.

The Board of Directors of SIX Interbank Clearing Ltd has decided to revise the inpayment slip with data code planned for mid-2018. In order to take account of the progressing digitalization, market needs and upcoming regulatory requirements, the data content of the planned QR code is being expanded. This should ensure its long-term operational sustainability.

Today’s Sibos newspaper features the new ISO 20022-compliant payment system that was launched by SIX Interbank Clearing in April 2016. The newspaper published in connection with this year’s annual gathering for international financial market service providers in Geneva.

In its latest newsletter for the temporary work industry swissstaffing asks its 300 members to prepare the changes in time in order to be fit for the payments' harmonization in Switzerland.

Currently, the compilation consists of 60 ERP providers offering ISO 20022 message types.

In addition to the new Swiss ISO 20022 Implementation Guidelines for Status Report most of the other guidelines as well as the Swiss Usage Guide have been revised.

Of around 250 business software vendors invited to take part, nearly 90 responded to the PaymentStandards.CH survey conducted in spring 2016.

Looking back at last week's ISO campaign to raise awareness of the importance of standards for driving economic growth and improving the quality of services.

The latest publications of the Swiss Trade Association, the Swiss Municipalities Association and the Zewo Foundation share the information of the Swiss payments harmonization program.

"Erfolg", the official organ of the Swiss SME Association, raises the awareness of its 35,000 readers to the harmonization of Swiss payments.

The official organ of Swissmechanic, the leading SME employers' organization in the mechanical engineering, electrical and metal industry, features an article about the harmonization of Swiss payments. The association magazine is automatically received by the 1,400 member companies.

The Swiss association of mail order companies (VSV) informs its members who generate 60% of the B2C online trading and 25% of the total volume of mail order parcels in Switzerland about the harmonization of Swiss payments.

About 60 financial institutions in Switzerland and Lichtenstein have ordered printed copies of the brochure regarding the harmonization of Swiss payment traffic. More than 150,000 business customers throughout both countries will receive the information printed in German, French, Italian and English in the common weeks, drawing their attention to the migration to the ISO 20022 standard.

The mouthpiece of the Canton Zurich's Trade Association informs its local members about the harmonization of Swiss payments.

The Swiss Economic Association for the Suppliers of Information, Communication and Organizational Technology (Swico) informs its members about the harmonization of Swiss payments.

In short in Italian: what companies need to know about the harmonization of Swiss payments. What is changing with credit transfers, direct debits, e-bills and payment slips?

In short: what companies need to know about the harmonization of Swiss payments. What is changing with credit transfers, direct debits, e-bills and payment slips?

Text and letter templates for customer communication of banks. Extranet users at financial institutions may download them at the password-protected Extranet of SIX Interbank Clearing.

The aim of the Swiss financial center in its communication activities over the past three years is to create awareness among the financial institutions and software providers about the “Migration Payment Traffic Switzerland” program and to request their commitment to it. As of today, the financial center positions itself under the new brand, PaymentStandards.CH and launches the implementation phase.

SIX and PostFinance are aiming to achieve an e-billing solution for e-banking clients across Switzerland which will also facilitate interbank direct debits with all Swiss banks.

The "Swiss Usage Guide" explains through field rules and examples how the ISO 20022 messages (customer-bank and bank-customer) must be constructed in accordance with the Swiss recommendations for the most common use cases (payment types), thereby providing an end-to-end analysis of the entire process. The document has been updated.

The following new Implementation Guidelines for the SIC Platform Release of 18.11.2016 are available: Settlement Account Query (camt.003), Query Response (camt.004), Settlement Order Modification (camt.007) and Liquidity Reservation (camt.048).

The datasheet providing specifics on the program and its migration plans has been updated to reflect the latest information on the new direct debit schemes. It replaces the version published in October 2014.