No need to give the BIC code for SEPA payments
Since 1 February 2014, there has been no need to give the BIC code for SEPA payments. Correspondingly, the BIC code should be removed from the bank transfer forms used for SEPA payments. This change, however, does not affect e-invoicing: you still need to give the BIC identifier (or other operator identifier) in any e-invoices. A minimum limit for SEPA payments (€0.01) has been taken into use for all of our payment channels.
Feedback on payment materials
The bank performs various checks on the C2B payment materials received by the bank. Based on the check results, C2B feedback files will be generated and sent to the Web Services or Batch transfer channel as used by the customer.
We recommend that the customers retrieve the feedback and check the files to see whether the C2B payment material supplied to the bank has been approved or rejected.
Payment cancellation requests are made by customers through self service as of 1 October 2015
As of 1 October 2015, an electronic C2B cancellation request is the primary method for cancelling a payment. Any C2B payment cancellation requests made by phone will be only received and processed if the OP member bank in question deems it appropriate.
An electronic C2B payment cancellation request can be used to cancel, prior to their due date, any individual payments or payment batches comprising several C2B SEPA payments, recurrent payments or foreign payments that have been sent by the customer to the Web Services channel.
The message schema for the C2B cancellation request is camt.055.001.01. For the feedback message to the cancellation request, as generated by the bank and retrievable by the customer, the schema is camt.029.001.03.
Transferring C2B express payment data as part of other SEPA payment data material
The customer can include domestic express payments (versions pain.001.001.02 and pain.001.001.03) in the C2B (SEPA) payment data material, along with other payment types, both within the current day and as per due dates. Correspondingly, the customer can retrieve feedback messages on the payments (pain.002.001.02 and pain.002.001.03).
This functionality is especially useful for those corporate and organisation customers that need stand-by procedures for urgent salary payment. It also allows for the synchronisation of the processes for C2B express payments and other C2B payments.
The C2B payment guideline for customers includes instructions for transferring express payment data as part of other SEPA payment data material.
OP Group no longer sells outbound currency cheques
As of 1 July 2015, OP Group has removed the sales of outgoing currency cheques from its outgoing international payment service portfolio. Foreign payment orders serve as a replacement for this method of payment.
Effects on customer channels
Since 1 July 2015, any currency cheque transactions in C2B payment data materials sent by the customer have been rejected. Nor is it possible to purchase currency cheques from any OP Group member bank.
Changes in payment transactions as a result of the merger of S-Bank and LocalTapiola Bank
As a result of the merger of S-Bank and LocalTapiola Bank, the new S-Bank, which has undergone a technical merger, has exclusively used the S-Bank BIC code for the transfer of payments and e-invoices, starting from 26 October 2015. For Finvoice payments, the change process started at the same time, but there is a transitional period of roughly six months.
What are the changes in payment transactions?
All of the account numbers for the new S-Bank (both those of the earlier LocalTapiola Bank, starting with 360-369, and the old S-Bank, starting with 390-399) are now linked to a single shared BIC code, SBANFI22.
Payment transactions are functioning as before
The customers’ account numbers and e-invoicing addresses have remained unchanged. The change of the BIC code has not caused any changes to the transfer of customers’ payments and e-invoices. Nor are there any changes to the express payment or express transfer processes.
Software providers have ensured that relevant changes have been made within their customer software. S-Bank is responsible for communicating the necessary information related to the technical merger. Therefore, if any further support is required, software providers should contact the customer service of S-Bank.