eBill Direct Debit

eBill Direct Debit enables eBill invoice issuers to create and manage digital direct debit authorizations via eBill, submit the corresponding claims via the eBill infrastructure and automatically collect them from the invoice recipient.

eBill Direct Debit is a function of eBill and an initiative of SIX. Established as the standard for digital invoicing, eBill enables seamless digital payment of invoices, creating significant benefits for individuals, businesses, and the Swiss economy. With eBill Direct Debit, this invoicing standard is now extended to direct debits.

SIX BBS has developed eBill Direct Debit in order to meet the requirements for digital, interoperable, and media-independent collection-based payment processing in Switzerland. eBill Direct Debit is expected to be launched in the summer of 2025.

The purpose of eBill Direct Debit is to process collection-based transactions through the eBill infrastructure.

The invoice recipient benefits from full payment automation and does not have to worry about timely payment. Unlike the traditional standing approval, where the invoice recipient can specify a maximum amount limit or an exact amount, the pre-stored collection authorization required for eBill Direct Debit is unlimited in amount. As a result, there is no risk that a submitted amount cannot be processed due to a limit set by the account holder that is too low or an extraordinary (higher) amount, resulting in late payment interest or dunning fees are therefore incurred. In the event of a successful eBill Direct Debit collection, the integrated return transaction process protects the invoice recipient from erroneous or unjustified debits by allowing them to easily reclaim their money.

With eBill Direct Debit, the invoice issuer benefits from very high payment reliability thanks to automated payment approval. This is mainly due to the fact that the influence of the invoice recipient is limited compared to eBill invoice and traditional standing approval. For example, the invoice issuer specifies the payment value date, and the invoice recipient cannot change it directly in the eBill infrastructure (e.g., eBill portal). This allows the invoice issuer to accurately plan its cash management. In addition, with eBill Direct Debit, the invoice issuer benefits from the digitalization of today’s paper-based and time-consuming onboarding processes.

With eBill Direct Debit, the invoice issuer can submit its claim against the invoice recipient to the eBill infrastructure in the form of a collection-based transaction via its connected network partner. In the eBill infrastructure, such a payment request is checked against the previously centrally stored collection and debit authorization and is automatically approved or rejected. Once approved, the eBill infrastructure transmits the necessary payment information to the invoice recipient’s financial institution. This triggers the payment to the invoice issuer’s financial institution and executes the authorized account debit against the stored collection authorization.

The invoice issuer's or invoice recipient's financial institution and the invoice issuer’s network partner must support eBill Direct Debit in order for their invoice issuer or invoice recipient to use eBill Direct Debit.

An eBill network partner is a licensed company that is authorized to connect to the eBill infrastructure. In order to use eBill Direct Debit, an invoice issuer must be connected to the infrastructure through a network partner. The network partner assists the invoice issuer in the onboarding process and ensures that the interface is functioning properly. If a financial institution wishes to offer its customers (invoice issuers) the eBill Direct Debit functionality, it is free to become a network partner itself or to offer its customers an optional direct debit option via the SIX eBill web interface.

The invoice issuer’s financial institution maintains the invoice issuer’s account and books credits from an eBill Direct Debit transaction. It also bears the credit risk in the event of cancellations by the invoice recipient and reimburses the amount collected. The invoice issuer's financial institution is free to become a network partner and to additionally offer its customer (invoice issuer) corresponding network partner services. Optionally, a financial institution can offer its customer (invoice issuer) a direct submission option via the SIX eBill web interface.

eBill Direct Debit is a new eBill market offering that SIX is piloting autonomously and will offer to the market on its own initiative from June 2025. A list of financial institutions that support eBill Direct Debit will be published by SIX on this website.

eBill Direct Debit is a new eBill market offering that SIX is piloting autonomously and will offer to the market on its own initiative from June 2025. A list of network partners that support eBill Direct Debit will be published by SIX on this website.

eBill Direct Debit is a new eBill market offering that SIX is piloting autonomously and will offer to the market on its own initiative from June 2025. As of January 2024, there are still no commitments to use the service.

With eBill Direct Debit, only collection-based transactions (business cases) can be processed, whereby a corresponding direct debit authorization must be concluded in advance between the invoice issuer and the invoice recipient and stored centrally in the eBill infrastructure.

The following functions are not intended for use with eBill Direct Debit, partly because eBill Direct Debit is designed to be automated, and therefore an integrated dunning process, for example, does not make sense for eBill Direct Debit:

• Cancellation
• Dunning
• Installment invoice
• Donation requests (eBill Donations)

The following table shows the differences (positioning) between eBill Direct Debit and other payment processes:

On the one hand, eBill Direct Debit is aimed at invoice issuers who want to collect their recurring claims from their customers (eBill invoice recipients) in the form of a digital collection-based eBill transaction.

On the other hand, eBill Direct Debit is designed for invoice recipients who want to automatically and digitally approve recurring payments, combined with the ability to revoke a processed direct debit via eBill.

Recipients of paper invoices can register for eBill Direct Debit with their financial institution through a special registration and enrollment process and subscribe to the relevant invoice issuer. These processes are optional. It is unknown at this time whether any financial institutions will offer these processes to their paper invoices customers.

The one-time implementation costs for eBill Direct Debit vary depending on the role and participant model (e.g., portal bank versus fully integrated bank, network partner versus invoice issuer). Accordingly, each participant or financial institution must be able to assess the cost of implementing eBill Direct Debit.

Receiving eBill direct debits via online banking is usually free of charge for the invoice recipient. However, this may vary depending on the financial institution. In the future, it will be possible to request a price list or quote directly from the financial institution.

The eBill Direct Debit transaction prices charged by network partners to their customers (connected invoice issuers) are the responsibility of each network partner. A price list or offer can be requested directly from the network partner.

The fees charged by SIX to the network partners or financial institutions are set out in the respective network partner or bank price list of SIX, which can be obtained by network partners or financial institutions from the respective closed user group websites of SIX.

SIX currently expects eBill Direct Debit to be available on the market from June 2025.

Note: eBill Direct Debit is a new eBill market offering that SIX is piloting autonomously and will make available to the market on its own initiative from June 2025. As of January 2024, there are still no commitments to use the service .

Information and documentation on eBill Direct Debit, such as the solution concept, can be found on the following website six-group.com/ebill-dd-project.

No. The invoice issuer can only debit the account after the invoice recipient has accepted the invoice issuer’s request, i.e., the authorization, and approved the account to be debited. Authorization is no longer required for individual charges.

Yes. With eBill Direct Debit, invoice recipients can digitally revoke direct debits directly in eBill without having to provide a reason. The invoice recipient’s financial institution will settle a revoked direct debit amount within a maximum of 10 bank working days. The objection period is 30 days from the date of notification.

There is no right of objection for B2B direct debits in the corporate customer sector.

Yes, the account specified for an existing eBill Direct Debit authorization can be changed by the invoice recipient in eBill at any time (the accounts provided by the invoice recipient’s financial institution are available for selection).

Note: An eBill Direct Debit authorization cannot be linked to a third party bank account. For privacy/confidentiality reasons, only the accounts of the financial institution through which the eBill login was made can be displayed in eBill. Therefore, even as of today, foreign bank accounts are not displayed to the eBill user and are not available for selection. This means that once created, eBill Direct Debit authorizations cannot be moved between financial institutions but must be set up again each time the invoice recipient changes financial institutions.

If an invoice recipient does not want to or cannot use eBill Direct Debit, there are alternatives such as eBill standing approvals, debit cards, or mobile wallets that also allow regular direct debits. The invoice recipient can also set up a standing order with their financial institution to pay recurring invoices for a fixed amount.

However, eBill Direct Debit is the only payment method that supports all the functionalities of typical account-based direct debit solutions, enabling a digital registration process and direct account-to-account payment via SIC (Swiss Interbank Clearing).