The first step in SEPA was the Euro, the second one was IBAN and SCT/SDD schemes implementation, and I propose the third one is enabling inclusion and mobility.

As I stumbled across the article from Lars Markull, “Brief history of IBANs and current Fintech challenges” it stirred up some thinking and ideas I was having in the past.

The article is a great source on what exactly IBANs are, but that is irrelevant for the end user. The interesting part is the struggle these have had with the change from their regular and accustomed (local) BBAN to the (worldwide) standardised IBAN. This struggle is still happening on a day to day basis for a lot of people, but over time is less visible (people get by, they ‘survive’). It’s like most people above a certain age are used to think of value or relative value in their local currency still, even though the Euro was introduced in 2002 already.

I started my professional career in the Telecom Industry in the end of the 90s, bringing a service to consumers (Internet Access Provider) that was turning from somewhat niche (BBS, UseNet, …) into mainstream offering (Connection, Portal, Search, Web, Hosting…).

The Internet Access Provider made big strides in digitalisation, where it was easy because we could assume that everybody who wanted to surf the Internet had at least a computer. But we had started out with mailing (snail mail) or faxing signup forms, that resulted us sending back an “Access Kit”. Very analog way to sell essentially a digital service, but in those days you needed a CD (or floppy), with software (browser was not standard), drivers, config etc… Think analog modems, computers without essential software, and every setup a little bit unique in its own way - Heck Windows 3.11 early days of Windows 95. This worked great and I remember we were lugging daily 2-3 big mail bags filled with connection kits to the central post office in Brussels.

Today’s landscape of traditional Banks and Institutions versus Neobanks and FinTechs is in for some big waves and changes.

The traditional banks have been able to “digitalize” with mixed success. They implemented the mandatory systems in order to stay relevant and continue to participate in the systems that provide foundational services. In these highly specialized settings while being dragged down by legacy systems and siloed organization, heavily impacted by 90 IT paradigms, most environments are not appealing for the CS engineer under 30 years old.