SIC IMP

The SIC IMP provides an Interface Message Processor (IMP) implementation for the credit transfer schemes of Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) in CHF. Support is also provided for the EuroSIC facility operated by the Swiss Euro Clearing Bank (SECB) for SEPA compliant payments in EUR.

Only SIC and EuroSIC credit transfer support is envisioned. Direct debits are thus excluded from the scope.

Payments in Switzerland

Switzerland presents a case of a jurisdiction and a payments market that is partially integrated with the payments in the EU/EEA. While Switzerland is not an EU or EEA member, it is bound to the EU single market via a web of bilateral agreements. As a non-EEA member, Switzerland does not adopt EU legislation and has not developed a legislative framework for payment services that would be harmonised with the EU framework.

By virtue of geography and trade relations, however, the euro is widely used in Swiss international trade along with the domestic currency, the Swiss franc (CHF). Switzerland is also a participant of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) payment schemes.

For payments in CHF, a single hybrid RTGS-DTNS system, the SIC (Swiss Interbank Clearing), is operated by a private sector entity, the SIX Group (SIX), on behalf of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central bank. Liechtenstein, an EEA member, shares the CHF as a national currency with Switzerland and participates in the SIC and EuroSIC systems.

For payments in EUR, Switzerland is a participant in SEPA for the European Payments Council (EPC) payment schemes and payment instruments. PSPs domiciled in Switzerland are eligible to participate in the SEPA schemes and process EUR payments. To streamline access to the SEPA infrastructures, the SECB operates the EuroSIC payment system for SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) payments.

The SIC system has completed migration to ISO 20022 standards and broadly uses the same payment messages as the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) payment scheme from the EPC. The EuroSIC system uses the SEPA payment schemes as is.

New versions of interbank implementation guidelines (IG) are released for SIC annually in November. These Swiss Payment Standards, which are supported by all Swiss financial institutions, are based upon the basic documentation issued by the ISO and the EPC and are reflected in the two rulebooks, the “Swiss Business Rules” and the “Swiss Implementation Guidelines”.

Routing and reach information for SIC is provided by a “bank master” database published b SIX. Different versions, including a JSON download, are available for public access. Only one CSM is available making routing decisions straightforward.

Connectivity is available via three channels: via a “messaging gateway” with two alternative commercial operators, via SWIFT or via a web portal. Multiple vendors offer messaging gateway compliant software that a PSP can operate internally or via a service bureau.

Implementing SIC credit transfer support

Support for EuroSIC in Tapestry is available directly through the SEPA IMP. For SIC support, some rudimentary implementation work has been done. More complete SIC support would ideally be based on the SEPA IMP or a shared ISO 20022 credit transfers base IMP. The data elements in SIC and SEPA SCT are rather similar and would support code sharing.

A mapping between SIC and SEPA SCT ISO 20022 message types and versions is included in the Tapestry code.

Implementing Swiss direct debit support

Currently, Tapestry does not have direct debit support. To add support for Swiss direct debit payment schemes, the SEPA IMP would initially need to be upgraded to support the SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) payment schemes. Then, the Swiss LSV+ (akin to SDD Core) and BDD (akin to SDD B2B) could be added based on the SEPA SDD implementation.