Before the introduction of QR billing: Everything prepared?
As of September 30, 2022, the orange payment slips will be replaced by QR bills. A market analysis shows that ahead of the introduction of the QR bill, most banks are now well prepared.
About 4 months before the end of the payment slip can be determined that the Banks their homework have done. Not only have they been able to process QR invoices for payment since their introduction in June 2020, but they are also exploiting their efficiency potential to a large extent. This statement applies somewhat more strongly to the payer side and somewhat less strongly to the biller side. It can also be seen that some banks have positioned their offerings much more broadly, while others are limiting themselves to the necessary minimum or have simply not yet fully grasped that the old payment slips and the QR bill do not function identically. Since many banks have not yet completed the development of services related to the QR bill, this analysis cannot be regarded as a conclusive view, but merely reflects the current (interim) status.
Bank offer for invoice recipient
Those banks that offer processing of QR invoices in pdf format are proving to be very innovative. They thus enable processing without media discontinuity from invoicing to payment and close the gaps for an end-to-end digital process. Thanks to this offer, paying a QR invoice is no longer inferior to eBill in terms of convenience. On the contrary, it is easier for anyone who wants to view the invoice details to receive an invoice as a pdf attachment by e-mail, because a double-click is all that is needed to open it. With eBill, this requires logins and downloads on the biller's website. 11 of the 39 banks surveyed already offer this service or are about to go live, and 2 others are testing it:
Furthermore, the following three important statements can be derived:
- All banks offer a scanning function in their mobile banking app.
- Most banks offer the option to use an external reader for eBanking on the PC.
- Only a few banks use the PC or laptop camera for scans of the Swiss QR Code. For most of them, the smartphone takes over the function of a reader. Although this workaround solves the problem of scanning in eBanking, it makes the cumbersome handling of two different devices necessary.
Bank offer for billers
When looking at the solutions for billers, i.e. SMEs, self-employed persons, associations and donation organizations, the offerings vary greatly between the banks. This is particularly evident in the fact that some banks have transferred the old world of payment slips relatively unimaginatively 1:1 to the QR invoice, while other banks have dealt more with the changed framework conditions. PostFinance stands out as particularly customer-friendly, allowing not only its own customers but also third parties to use its online payment part generator. UBS and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise are particularly innovative: both offer an upload function for debtor lists (Excel) so that QR payment parts can be generated in series for various invoice recipients. WIR Bank Genossenschaft and Raiffeisenbank have also filled this gap. Although they do not offer this service themselves, they cooperate with third-party providers and discount the use of the corresponding solutions for their customers.
The serial function in particular is even more important for QR invoices than for payment slips, because billers cannot subsequently add missing information to neutral number parts on their own printer. This is because the Swiss QR Code cannot be changed once it has been printed. QR payment parts should therefore be created in full from the outset, i.e. including the biller's details and the amount. If these details are missing, the biller and the bill recipient each have to accept a serious disadvantage: The former pays an additional fee of CHF 0.84 per payment (in addition to the counter deposit fee) for the subsequent recording of the missing information when making payments at the post office counter, while the latter is forced to complete the information himself by hand.
Despite digitization: pre-printed paper receipts still on offer
It is worth mentioning that about half of the banks continue to offer an ordering service for pre-printed paper receipts, although it is cost-intensive and offers little added value for most billers. This is because all copies of such a voucher order are identical, apart from a possible reference number. The disadvantages of missing information on the invoice recipient and the amount have been mentioned above. For those corporate customers of banks that serve several different recipients, and for those that want to offer their customers a flawless service even with few invoices, this service is useless. About two thirds of the banks offer the possibility to create fully completed QR payment parts, i.e. payment parts containing both the biller's and the bill recipient's details, online and to download them as pdf and/or image files.
Source and further information: https://qrmodul.ch/
