Ok, I know this post is a bit late. Especially since the SEPA go live in Belgium was on 1st April, 2014. If you’re working on a SEPA implementation in multiple countries, be aware of the various SEPA Deadlines By Country. But the information maybe relevant for some corporates who may have put off their SEPA direct debit implementation in Belgium till later. Perhaps you’re working with a vendor who is enriching and converting your DOM80 format to SEPA XML and then submitting it to the bank on your behalf. Or maybe, where volumes allow, the interim solution is to manually enter the Belgian SEPA direct debit instructions into an internet banking application.
Where historically corporates have been direct debiting customers using the DOM’80 scheme in Belgium, the following information should help you with the migration to SEPA direct debit processing.
You can migrate DOM’80 direct debit collections to SEPA direct debit CORE collections. Clearly, migrating to SEPA B2B is more complex and will require a new mandates to be signed.
If you need a recap, we have already covered in some detail:
- SEPA Direct Debit – A Quick Overview
- Differences between SEPA CORE and SEPA B2B Schemes
- Key Considerations for your SEPA Direct Debit implementation
- Information about SEPA Creditor Identifier
As the SEPA Creditor Identifier post indicates, your bank will help you get the SEPA Creditor Identifier. But where can you get the other required information, namely:
- Debtors BIC
- Debtors IBAN
- Original Mandate Id
- Original Creditor Scheme Id
The Banque Nationale de Belgique active DOM 80 extract…
As luck would have it, the DOM 80 mandate information is held by the debtors bank and the Belgian Central Bank holds a central repository of every active DOM 80 mandate issued in Belgium. This central database is updated by each Belgian bank, and the mandate information is enriched with BIC and IBAN information.
Your Belgian bank, via the Belgian Central Bank, can provide you with an extract of your active DOM80 mandates with all of the mandate information you require to migrate to SEPA CORE processing. Nice, eh?
National Bank of Belgium – Active DOM 80 Mandate Extract:
Header Record:
- Position 1, 1 character – Record identifier = 0
- Position 2-4, 3 characters – SDD application Code
- Position 5, 1 character – Nature of file, normally = 2 (download)
- Position 6-8, 3 characters – Payee bank identifier
- Position 9-11, 3 characters – Sub-participant Identifier
- Position 12-19, 8 characters – Date file was created – DDMMYYY
- Position 20-23, 4 characters – File serial number
- Position 24-27, 4 characters – Total number of files
- Position 28-35, 8 characters – Number of data records
- Position 36-46, 11 characters – Creditors identification number
- Position 47-205, 159 characters – Blank
Data Record:
- Position 1, 1 character – Record identifier = 1
- Position 2-9, 8 characters – Record serial number
- Position 10-28, 19 characters – Reference / subscriber number
- Position 29-44, 16 characters – Debtors IBAN (payer)
- This is the Debtor IBAN value you need to indicate in your SEPA XML (PAIN.008) file
- Position 45-56, 12 characters – Payer account number / DOM 80 direct debit number
- This is the DOM 80 direct debit number that you should indicate in the SEPA XML (PAIN.008) file, tag <OrgnlMndId>. The value should be prefixed with the value ‘DOM80’
- Position 57-62, 6 characters – Mandate reference
- Position 63-70, 8 characters – Date the original direct debit was initiated (DDMMYYYY)
- Position 71-105, 35 characters – Name of debtor (payer)
- Position 106-140, 35 characters – Debtor address
- Position 141-150, 10 characters – Debtor post code
- Position 151-175, 25 characters – Debtor town/city
- Position 176-186, 11 characters – Debtor BIC
- This is the Debtor BIC value you need to indicate in the SEPA XML (PAIN.008) file
- Position 187-197, 11 characters – DOM 80 creditors identification number
- This is the Originator Creditor Scheme Id value you should indicate in the SEPA XML (PAIN.008) file, tag <OrgnlCdtrSchmeId>. The value should be prefixed with the value ‘DOM80’
- Position 198-205, 8 characters – Date of most recent upload
Along with the above, the first SEPA direct debit CORE collection will indicate:
- Sequence Type <SeqTp> value = FRST
- Signature Date <DtOfSgntr>= Date of the first SEPA CORE submission, or the agreed SEPA CORE migration date
What’s the catch?
1. The link between the DOM 80 mandate maybe lost, and you may need to sign new mandates
You MUST indicate the above tags and the indicated values in the first direct debit CORE submission. Using this information the legacy DOM 80 mandate information can be transferred to SEPA CORE. If you fail to adhere to this requirement, the switch from legacy DOM 80 to SEPA CORE wont be made and you will have to sign new mandates.
2. The FRST and RCUR formats require different XML tags to be shown
You will need to build ERP system logic to handle a first SEPA CORE submission, which indicates the original mandate identification information. Next you will have to build a second, recurring (RCUR), direct debit SEPA template which excludes / includes the appropriate SEPA tags. Work with your bank to get the required SEPA XML template information. The important thing to note is that you will need two templates to handle the FRST and RCUR requirement. Let’s leave aside the one off (OOFF) collections and final (FNAL) direct debit collections for now 😉
Have you migrated to SEPA CORE in Belgium? Did you adopt the above approach and if so, how did it go? Are you planning a SEPA direct debit implementation in Belgium? I’d love to hear the status of your Belgian SEPA direct debit implementation…