Parolla now supports the newer SEPA Credit Transfer PAIN.001.001.09 payment file format, giving employers the option to move from the existing PAIN.001.001.03 format ahead of upcoming bank changes later this year.
When creating a SEPA payment file in Parolla, you can now choose between:
- PAIN.001.001.03 – the existing legacy format
- PAIN.001.001.09 – the newer SEPA Credit Transfer format
This allows employers to test the new format with their bank before it becomes a requirement.
Why is the SEPA file format changing?
Banks across Europe are continuing their migration to newer versions of the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard.
The PAIN.001.001.09 format introduces a newer structure for credit transfer information, including changes to several XML fields and improved support for structured payment information. Bank of Ireland, for example, now supports PAIN.001.001.09 alongside the existing PAIN.001.001.03 format.
For Irish businesses, November 2026 is an important deadline.
AIB has advised customers submitting bulk payment files that they need to make the required ISO 20022 file changes before Thursday, 12 November 2026, warning that payment files may fail after that date if the necessary changes have not been made.
Individual bank implementation dates and requirements can vary, so employers should check the guidance provided by their own bank.
What do Parolla customers need to do?
There is no need to wait until November.
We recommend that employers start testing the PAIN.001.001.09 format now.
When creating your next payroll payment file in Parolla:
- Select the PAIN.001.001.09 SEPA format.
- Upload the file to your normal business banking portal.
- Check that the bank accepts and validates the file correctly.
- Complete a test payment or normal payroll payment once you are satisfied with the validation.
- Check your bank’s own timetable for retiring or restricting older SEPA file formats.
You can continue to use PAIN.001.001.03 in Parolla during the transition period where your bank continues to support it.
Check your employees’ bank account names
There is one other important housekeeping job worth doing while making the change: check the payee name recorded against each employee’s bank account.
Verification of Payee, or VOP, is increasingly being used by banks to compare the name supplied with a payment against the name associated with the receiving IBAN.
For example, Bank of Ireland’s bulk Verification of Payee service checks the name supplied in the payment file against the name associated with each IBAN and recommends providing the employee’s full account name. AIB also provides Verification of Payee for SEPA bulk payments.
This means that an employee may be known within your payroll records as Joe Murphy, while their bank account is actually registered as Joseph Murphy. Similarly, married names, shortened first names, middle names or other differences may result in a name-match warning.
We therefore recommend reviewing employee bank details and ensuring the account holder name entered in Parolla matches the name held by the employee’s bank as closely as possible.
Don’t leave the change until November
The new format is available in Parolla now, specifically so employers have time to test it without having to make a last-minute change immediately before a payroll payment is due.
Our recommendation is simple:
Generate your next SEPA payment file using PAIN.001.001.09, test it with your banking portal and resolve any employee account-name issues well before November 2026.
Doing this now means that when your bank makes the newer format mandatory, your payroll payment process should continue as normal.