Dematerialised Bills in Switzerland
- In Switzerland, electronic bills allow customers to receive, monitor and pay in francs and euro by connecting themselves to his online banking portal.
- Electronic billing is easy to use and environmentally friendly; the customer can decide whether he wants to make the payment and the transmission is secure.
- This service is free of charge and centralised on Direct Net platform. User registration is performed in three steps: he connects to his online banking portal, activates the electronic bill service and registers with the partner bill issuers.
- These bills apply to both individual customers and businesses. However, companies must sign a contract with SIX Paynet SA before registering on the e-banking website. In addition, their electronic bills are signed digitally and comply with the legal requirements on VAT and accounting.
- Providers of electronic billing services include the two Swiss leaders PayNet, electronic bills network for Swiss banks and PostFinance yellowbill, they both count an increasing number of business customers. To promote and encourage the use of e-billing services, Orange Switzerland offers 100 minutes communication credit to all Orange customers opting for direct debits or e-billing services.
- In France, La Poste launched Digiposte: a digital environment designed to receive bills, payslips or electronic statements, which also includes a secure 1 GB virtual vault storage.
- In 2010, 33 distributors already proposed electronic bills and the number of exchanges grew 38% between retail and industry players compared to 2009 (from 7,174 to 5,167).