CAST is looking specifically at standards in the area of remittance information (and e-r econciliation), digital identity and e-invoicing. Overall the objective is systematically to remove paper from the financial supply chain.
Over the past couple of years there has been much effort devoted to improving the payments processes within Europe for electronic payments in Euros1. Treasurers within the ACT (Association of Corporate Treasurers) and the EACT (European Associations of Corporate Treasurers) have been working with the authorities in shaping these new developments in payments.
In the course of the EACT’s work it has become apparent that although the initiatives on payments will be helpful in delivering efficiencies and benefits for corporate customers, there are in fact many more benefits that could be captured if improvements in the whole financial supply chain could be introduced. By automating much more of the process of ordering, recording delivery, invoicing and making payment, along with all the necessary matching and reconciliations that take place, the cost savings possible would be enormous.
If a company can exchange standard electronic documents with the same legal validity as signed and notarised paper contracts and can book transactions automatically in its accounting system, the benefits in terms of operating savings, quality and security of data, and productivity could be truly astonishing.
In its SEPA incentives Paper of March 2006 the European Commission wrote
Potential savings of dematerialisation of the wider transaction processing chain are conservatively estimated at EUR 50–100 billion. European Commission
The EACT has launched a series of e-business related projects to make some concrete progress in moving to a more standardised world where ‘straight through processing’ becomes a reality.