It seems a long period, however it is very short. On 1 February 2014, all Monaco businesses, whatever their size or activity, will need to have taken into account the impact of migration to the new European means of payment in their payment, invoicing and customer debit systems.
After currency harmonisation and creation of the eurozone comes harmonisation of debits and transfers within and between the 32 European countries of the SEPA zone, which Monaco is part of along with Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. It is clearly a large-scale European project, which by creating a single range of payment methods will allow all payments to be made in a uniform way in euro, whether they are domestic or cross-border transactions. Therefore as a small state in the heart of Europe, Monaco is particularly affected.
In the framework of the SEPA National Committee tasked with coordinating the implementation of European payment methods in Monaco, since October 2010 the Government and AMAF, the co-presidents, have organised many meetings to increase awareness with regard to banks, administrations, institutional bodies and businesses. An awareness letter has also been sent to all trade unions grouped together in the employers’ Federation and to accountants, the legal professions and the medical professions. While Monaco’s large businesses and the administrations have already migrated to these payment methods, or are currently doing so, it is important for SMEs to get ready for the migration. That will take time for some of them, as the entire invoicing chain needs to be analysed to identify the units and administration tools affected by payment flows: accounting, HR, purchasing, and sales.
The risk is high, as non-compliance with the SEPA system can prevent a business from carrying out all debits or all transfers from one day to the next, leading to almost immediate cash flow problems. So migration needs to be initiated as quickly as possible, starting from today.
The SEPA National Committee ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) can inform businesses about all questions of general interest. For all information documents it is possible to consult the web site www.gouv.mc section: Businesses’ areas/Aid and development/International/Monegasque SEPA Committee.
