More than 60% of UK companies have not started work on migration to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), according to a study by business services provider Steria.
As a result, they are trailing their peers in France and Germany, where 30% of businesses have yet taken no action.
Steria’s research, which is based on a survey of 300 businesses in France, Germany and the UK, also found that one in five European businesses issuing debits was unaware of SEPA direct debits.
SEPA affects the vast majority of EU businesses as all organisations that use credit transfers or direct debits in euros need to migrate by February 2014.
Overall, just a third of organisations has already migrated or is in the process of migrating to SEPA direct debit (42% in Germany, 35% in France and only 3% in the UK).
Despite this, more than half of European businesses agree that the SEPA direct debit scheme will generate more benefits than disadvantages to organisations.
Jean-François Mansart, head of the group advanced payment practice, said: “Smart companies will take SEPA as an opportunity to optimise their cash management systems and processes and reduce fraud and bad debt. But they need to allow themselves adequate time to prepare to avoid potentially costly errors and to ensure that the benefits outweigh the costs of migrating.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer