French Direct Debits
In France, no unique direct debit authorisation number exists and bank exchanges undertaken for debit order collections are defined according to CFONB regulations (see document: CFONB Ordre de Prélèvement Remises Informatisées Octobre 2006 [CFONB - Debit Orders - Automated Remittance - October 2006]).
Each direct debit issuer has a National Issuer Number and can define a unique identifier for each debtor (client number, contract number, insurance policy number, card number or a combination of several elements that allow uniqueness, for example contract number + branch number).
SEPA Payment Suite offers 2 initialisation procedures for the mandate database:
Initialisation on the mandate base of a “client file” provided by the creditor in standard SEPA Payment Suite format (see Mandate files);
Initialisation on the mandate base of Creditor direct debit notifications (see Transaction files).
When launching the initialisation procedure, SEPA Payment Suite carries out syntax checks on each initialisation file and verifies the uniqueness of the reference linked to each direct debit authorisation in the file and in relation to the data already initialised in SEPA Payment Suite.
In the event that these checks fail, the results are transmitted to the creditor in order to repair the initialisation file.
If the checks are passed successfully, SEPA Payment Suite performs the conversion of the debtor bank details (RIB -> BIC/IBAN), and generates a UMR for each direct debit authorisation according to the algorithm defined for each creditor. SEPA Payment Suite also informs the accounts to be credited in the creditor configuration details.
Once the procedure is complete, SEPA Payment Suite stores the SEPA mandatescreated using the file data in its database.
Case 1: retrieval from client file (standard SEPA Payment Suite procedure)
The creditor provides SEPA Payment Suite with an extract of its client database (i.e. debtors) in the form of data files (one for each account to be credited in compact format with standardised header) comprising elements relating to direct debit authorisations signed by its clients. The files provided follow the standard SEPA Payment Suite format as described in the product interfacing document.
Each record contains:
- the details of the debtor:
Name/company name of the debtor (70 positions)
Address (French format)
RIB
Country of account
- details relating to authorisation of direct debit:
Unique Mandate Reference (UMR) or Unique Internal Reference (UIR) linked to the authorisation of direct debit (35 positions);
Date of signature authorising direct debit (YYYYMMDD); by default the dematerialisation date of the direct debit authorisation;
Identifier for the underlying contract (Optional; 35 positions);
Final Creditor Identifier (optional);
Mandate type (Core or B2B; Core by default).
Upon receipt of a file of this type, SEPA Payment Suite carries out syntax checks and verifies the uniqueness of the UIR in relation to the data already initialised in SEPA Payment Suite. If successful, the following processes are carried out:
Conversion of RIB to BIC/IBAN ;
Generation of the UMR according to the algorithm defined for each creditor. It should be noted that the UMR generation algorithm differs from that the one used to create SEPA mandates in order to make the distinction between migrated direct debit authorisation and “true” SEPA mandates (CFONB recommends the use of “++” characters) ;
Setting parameters of creditor configuration data (accounts to be credited) ;
Checking debtor bank accessibility using available BIC directory ;
Storage of created SEPA mandates in SEPA Payment Suite database. It should be noted that the first SDD generated for a “migrated” mandate will have the modification indicator positioned correctly, the original SCI filled with the former NNE of the mandate and the mandate signature date given with the issue date of the SDD. In addition, the SDD will contain the indication FIRST.
Once these processes are complete, SEPA Payment Suite returns a response file comprising the UIR and UMR generated for each record as well as the “non migrated” direct debit authorisations.
Case 2: Retrieval from CFONB direct debit notifications
In the same way, creditors who are not able to produce a file according to the SEPA Payment Suite standard as defined above, can provide direct debit notification files in CFONB format.
It is however necessary (if it is not native) to add the UIR (a unique internal reference relating to the direct debit authorisation) in the F label of the record which will allow for a link to be made with the UMR. Except for an organization which has a customize mapping of the Cfonb format, in this case the UIR can be set in another label dynamically.
Using all the direct debit notification files transmitted, SEPA Payment Suite will generate a migration file as defined above (case 1), eliminating duplications (i.e. same NCI, same RIB and same UIR).
In the event of duplication of the UIR with different RIBs, SEPA Payment Suite generates a reject file to send to the creditor for correction.
The rest of the process is identical to case 1.
German Direct Debits
Each transaction must have a minimum mandatory fields filled, preliminary checks are performs in order to make sure that the transactions are valid.
For SDDs, the next step is to identify if the associated mandates existed in SPS database.
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If exists, it is possible that an amendment was included. I this is the case, the amendment properties should be updated for this mandate. The two fields used to find if a mandate exist are the SCI and the UIR.
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If no mandate could be found in SPS database, then before creating an SDD, in some cases a mandate should be created. If there is an error on the creation of the mandate, then an SDD Reject should be created in place of an SDD.
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After the mandate is created or found (and amended if necessary), SPS create a new SDD.
The UMR (Unique Mandate Reference) is the internal SPS reference for mandates. All mandates must have it. Since the DTA file is a domestic file format and doesn’t specify it, it will have to either be generated at import or to leave it empty and fill it out later (either using the Web GUI or using a different file format that carries the UMR).
Therefore, depending on whether or not the option configured at the current organization is enable to generate a UMR, the UMRValue will either be a generated one or it will be empty (in which case the mandate will be incomplete).
The DTA file contains information about the bank account in native German format. Therefore to obtain the BIC/IBAN, SPS calculate the BBAN using, by concatenating the Bank Code and the Account Number. Once the BBAN has been calculated, SPS to obtain the IBAN using the SwiftService getIbanFromBbanAndCountryCode method, using the calculated BBAN as a parameter and for the country code ‘DE’ (for Germany). A valid IBAN or an empty String can be returned if the given BBAN is not valid or if no IBAN could be calculated for it.
Once the IBAN has been calculated and it is not empty, SPS try to obtain the BIC. If the IBAN is invalid or a valid BIC could not be found, we will return an empty string.
When a new mandate is created, before importing the SDD it is necessary to have its signature date. Since the DTA file doesn’t specify a field for this information, in order for the mandate to be complete we have to check the organization parameters.
For this, SPS will check the organization parameter to see whether or not the signature date will be generated or not. Therefore each organization can choose for domestic file formats (so also DTA) whether or not the current date should be considered as the signature date.
If the signature date is empty, the mandate will be incomplete.
For additional information, see SPS – DE – DTA – Integration.doc
Belgian Direct Debits
When uploading a file in SPS, the application checks if the minimum mandatory fields are filled, and performs all the preliminary checks in order to make sure that the transaction is valid.
Then SPS identify if the associated mandate exists in the database:
- If the mandate does not exist SPS will create an SDD Reject.
- If the mandate exists then SPS will create the new SDD and link it with the mandate.
The Dom80 – migration file is a mandates file. It contains information about different mandates for a given ICS.
The ICS is extracted from the header line (record “0”) position 36-46. Each mandate line (record “1”) contains information regarding one mandate:
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The debtor’s IBAN, position 29-44.
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The UIR, position 45-56
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The signature date (ddMMyyyy), position 63-70
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The debtor’s BIC, position 176-183
SPS will extract those informations and create a mandate, for the creditor’s account SPS will take one of the account of the organization. For additional information, see SpecDom80.doc
Dutch Direct Debits
For each transaction from the NL domestic files (Clieop), the process checks if the minimum mandatory fields are filled.
- If the Clieop file is valid, next step to do is to identify if the associated mandate exists in the SPS database, the two fields used to find if a mandate exist are the SCI and the UIR.
- If the mandate exists, it is possible that an amendment was included. If this is the case, the amended properties should be updated for this mandate.
- If no mandate could be found in the SPS database, then before creating an SDD, a mandate should be created.
After the mandate is created or found (and amended if necessary) the SDD should be created in SPS and linked with this mandate.
BIC – IBAN accounts can be retrieved from NLaccount table in the database.
If the account can’t be found in the database then, as Netherland bank accounts can’t be converted into BIC/IBAN system, banks have created a service to solve the problem: https://ibanbicservice.nl/.
To create an active mandate a date of signature is required. Netherland’s financial rules specify that the default one is 11/01/2009 for pre-SEPA transaction.
In case of new SEPA transaction:
- If the organization’s option “For mandate creation in domestic file format, use the date of the day as signature date” is checked the current date is picked.
- Otherwise the signature date is missing and the mandate is pending.
For additional information, see SPS – NL – Clieop – Integration.doc