Dresdner Kleinwort first European bank to test SEPA platform

The initial test phase of the EBA platform is planned in order to adapt cross-border payment transactions in the Euro zone to the improved conditions of the "Single Euro Payment Area" (SEPA) at the beginning of 2008.

Following the integration of Dresdner’s cash management activities into Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment bank is now leading the SEPA project for the whole of Dresdner Bank. "Payment transactions and cash management are now core businesses of Dresdner Kleinwort", Stefan Jentzsch, CEO of Dresdner Kleinwort comments. "With this initiative we believe corporate clients in particular will benefit from the uniform SEPA data formats through improved liquidity management", he added.

Dresdner Kleinwort considers the standardization of European payment transactions as a big opportunity for its clients and therefore supports the SEPA initiative. By signing up to this program as a pro-active participant, it hopes to help create the conditions for the pre-testing. In the next pilot phase further banks will be involved in the testing. As of January 2008 the SEPA requirements will be mandatory in the Euro zone. As a result, the period of money-transfers will be shortened from three days to one day in the SEPA zone, by 2012.