2 1 January 2008

News:

Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, has described the official launch of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) framework as a 'historic milestone' for the European payments industry, hailing it as a decisive factor in realising the full potential of the European Single Market.

Her Majesty's Treasury and the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) are to address E-Finance & Payments Law & Policy's 'Payment Services Directive Workshop' on 28 February, which will provide banks and e-payment institutions with key information on implementing and complying with the Directive.

Mobile transactions carried out by 612 million mobile phone users will generate $587 billion by 2011, according to 'Mobile Financial Services: Banking & payment markets 2007-2011', a report released by Juniper Research on 30 January.

Features:

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which is due to make EU-wide payments as cheap and easy as they are at a national level, went operational on 28 January 2008 with the launch of the first SEPA Credit Transfers ('SCTs'). Businesses and consumers alike can now make Euro credit transfers in a standard payment order format and with an execution time of three business days (D+3), reducing to one business day (D+1) in 2012. SEPA direct debits ('SDD') are expected before the end of 2009.

Now that implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) has commenced, the Payment Services Directive - which provides the legal framework for the SEPA - has important consequences for payment service providers. In this article, William Long, counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, sets out the main provisions of the Directive and highlights the important points from the UK Government's current industry consultation on the Directive, which runs until 18 March.

The 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study details non-cash payments in the US from 20032006, charting the growth of electronic payments and the decline of the use of cheques. Agnes Bundy Scanlan and Dale Fulton, of Goodwin Procter LLP, examine the Study's findings, highlighting that as cheques still make up 55% of the non-cash environment, there is a need to improve their efficiency, perhaps through electronic cheque processing.

'Mobile Payments in Asia Pacific', a comprehensive report recently released by KPMG in collaboration with the Telecommunications Research Project (TRP), assesses how the market for mobile payments in the region has developed. The report examines issues such as business models, risks and challenges, including case studies. In this article, KPMG and TRP Corporate examine the findings of the report in key markets, and examine the laws and regulations in place in each of those markets.

On 13 November 2007, the Norwegian Government presented a consultation paper proposing a prohibition on processing of payments from Norway to remote gambling sites. The objective of the proposal is to limit the extent of remote gambling in Norway in light of social-political considerations. Rolf Sims and Åsta Skre, legal advisors to the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, give an overview of the consultation paper and the underlying aims and motives that the proposal is founded upon.