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Notiziario Marketpress di
Venerdì 21 Marzo 2003 |
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SIA DELIVERS STEP2 PLATFORM IN RECORD TIME FOR THE PAN-EUROPEAN RETAIL PAYMENT CLEARING HOUSE
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Milan-paris, March 21, 2003 - Sia (Società Interbancaria per l´Automazione) announces that its platform for the Step2 project has been delivered in record time, perfectly fitting the schedule defined 10 months ago at the start up of the project. The platform was first accurately tested internally at Sia and then given to the Eba (Euro Banking Association) that accepted it after having completed the necessary testing phase including the quality assessment. The platform itself is highly innovative, and was built using new technology in some cases not yet in general availability on the market. The development processes comply to the strictest quality requirements usually addressed and delivered by Sia: the platform is now at Banks disposal for pilot testing. Other groups of banks will then gradually join the Pilot Group, therefore extending the European banks involvement. Step2, an essential component towards the creation of the Sepa (Single Euro Payment Area), is the new Eba service that, in addition to completing the Eba offering, will automate bulk low value, high volume inter-bank payments within the European Union. Thanks to Step2, intra-European Euro retail payments will be sent as files to the Eba/sia operation center in Milan and will be then processed, cleared and sent for settlement. Settlement Services are provided either directly by banks, through settlement agent banks or through Central banks. Step2 Services are all accessible through Swift´s Ip-based messaging platform, Swiftnet. Step2 banks will send payment files to Eba (using Swift Mt103+ and recently developed Xml standards) through the secure Fileact service. They will also be able to query the Step2 central server through Swift´s new Browse capability. Sia won the bid to construct the Step2 platform last May thanks to its state-of-the-art technology, solutions and services. At that time many among the financial community looked ahead to the important objective of providing European banks, by mid-2003, with a pan-European Ach to process cross-border and domestic bulk payments at levels which will be comparable to those of existing domestic Achs. In January 2003, the European Payment Council (Epc) declared that the Step2 platform conforms to all the requirements set forth for the creation of Peach, the Pan-european Automated Clearing House. The Pilot Banks, which include the major European banks, will now experience the quality of the platform and, even more importantly, all the services that Sia has implemented. Renzo Vanetti, Ceo of Sia, noted that "It was an honor for Sia to be chosen by the Eba less than one year ago. Today, we are proud to deliver the Step2 platform. It has been a unique experience in many ways. First of all, there was a strong internal team which created a platform using innovative technology. Today´s platform with tomorrow´s technology could be our slogan. A second important aspect has been the great team-spirit among several companies: Sia, Ibm, Microsoft, Swift, Eba and the Pilot Banks themselves. While Ibm, Microsoft, Swift and Sia worked together on the technology and the technical design, Eba, the Pilot Banks and Sia worked together on the functional design. It has really been a cross-border project with tremendous effort by all the entities involved. Now Sia is ready to support the following phases of the project, extending its commitment to the next services". Gilbert Lichter, Eba Secretary General, said "It was a great experience working with Sia and Swift on this project. At the time of appointing Sia, we were impressed with Sia´s proven domestic and international expertise. Less than one year later we have experienced first hand Sia´s corporate values in terms of quality, commitment and long term vision. It has been a pleasure working with a very solid and at the same time flexible company, ready to fine-tune with Eba and with our Pilot Banks the requirements of our Step2 platform despite the considerable time pressure to deliver. Step2 has been built to allow for an open access by a broad number of banks. After the pilot phase, Step2 will progressively grow, both in terms of direct and indirect participants, to include banks from all-over the Eu. With Step2 in place, banks in Europe now have a new platform that enables them to further develop their retail payments business in accordance with the customer needs in a Single Euro Payments Area ". |
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