Plans by payment services companies Voca and Link to
keep their core systems separate after their proposed merger are a
"smart move", according to analyst firm
Butler Group.
The merger, announced last week, will create
VocaLink, one
of the biggest payments processors in Europe, handling more than
eight billion transactions a year.
The firms are already working together to build the
infrastructure for the Faster Payments initiative, which aims to
deliver real-time payments to the UK market by the end of the
year.
The infrastructure will also support the requirements of the
Single Euro Payments Area, due to be introduced next year.
However, VocaLink plans to keep its two core technology
platforms separate. Teresa Jones, senior analyst at Butler Group,
said this was a smart move given the complex legacy infrastructure
both parties were likely to be maintaining.
"Some of it is likely to be old and challenging to integrate,"
she said. "The key issue is around payment clearing. They are
likely to use enterprise service bus-type technology to make their
systems work together.
"If they can achieve a 10-second round trip on transactions
instead of three days, as some have suggested, that would be a
serious improvement to rival the US."
Related article:
Link and Voca
reveal merger plans
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Voca chooses Distra to support payments services
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