The payment run is the heart of the financial processes in every company – and yet it is facing a crucial change. From November 2026 Numerous payment formats in the EBICS environment are being phased out. Those who have not switched to the current formats by then risk having payment orders rejected and daily payment transactions brought to a standstill.
The background is the Format Lifecycle, This document, which the German banking industry updates regularly, defines which SEPA and payment formats will be supported in the future and when older versions will be permanently discontinued.
What will change specifically in November 2026?
As part of the lifecycle planning, it was determined that several older SEPA format versions will no longer be supported in November 2026. Businesses will no longer be able to use these formats for submitting payment orders after that date.
Specifically, the following formats, among others, are being discontinued:
- pain.001.001.03 – SEPA transfer (GBIC_1, GBIC_2, GBIC_3)
- pain.008.001.02 – SEPA Direct Debit (GBIC_1, GBIC_2, GBIC_3)
- pain.002.001.03 – Payment Status Report
- pain.001.001.08 – Instant Payment variant of older specification
These versions were supported alongside newer formats for several years. This parallel support will end with the end of their lifecycle in November 2026.
At the same time, only newer format generations will be considered standard in the future, in particular:
- pain.001.001.09 for transfers
- pain.008.001.08 for direct debits
These versions correspond to the SEPA format version from DK Release 3.7 and will form the binding basis for electronic payment transactions in the future.
Why this change directly affects the payment run
The payment run is technically based on structured payment files. Every payment generated from an ERP or accounting system is sent as an XML file to the EBICS channel. If the format changes, the technical structure of the payment run changes automatically as well.
Many companies still use configurations that were originally set up years ago and have remained unchanged ever since. This is precisely where the risk lies: if these configurations continue to generate outdated pain versions, banks will simply reject the files starting in November 2026.
This does not make the payment process slower or less efficient – it It may not work at all anymore..
Further format shutdowns in the surrounding area
In addition to the classic SEPA payment formats, other areas are also affected:
- The international format DTAZV will also be discontinued in November 2026 and replaced by ISO-20022-XML.
- MT formats such as [example missing] were previously used for account information. MT940 and MT942 discontinued, so camt formats will be mandatory in the future.
These parallel shutdowns demonstrate that this is not an isolated change, but a comprehensive modernization of the entire payment data ecosystem.
In practice, problems rarely arise on the deadline itself, but rather in the weeks leading up to it – for example, when banks conduct tests or preliminary shutdowns. During such phases, companies frequently report the following:
- Error messages when submitting payment runs
- unexpected rejections of payment files
- additional manual effort for short-term correction
These effects are not caused by faulty accounting, but solely by data formats that are no longer supported.
Recommendations for companies
To ensure that payment processing continues to function smoothly after November 2026, companies should check the following points early on:
- Which pain version is our ERP or treasury system currently generating?
- Does our banking software already support pain.001.001.09 and pain.008.001.08?
An important point: Even if a system theoretically supports new formats, this doesn't automatically mean they are actively configured. Many installations continue to work with older default versions.
Conclusion: The payment process remains – but its technical basis changes.
The payment run as a process will remain a central component of financial processing even after 2026. However, what will fundamentally change is the technical basis on which this process runs.
With the end of several pain versions and other legacy formats in November 2026, a clear break will occur in the history of electronic payment transactions. Companies that modernize their systems in time can manage this transition without interruption – all others risk operational disruptions in one of the most sensitive business processes of all.
Sources:
https://www.ebics.de/securedl/…/SEPA-LifeCycleFormatversionen-StandApril_2025.pdf
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