Leading banks have joined a new pan-European clearing
system run by
VocaLink.
VocaLink, created by the recent merger of
clearing organisations Voca and LINK, has designed the €CSM
service to operate on an independent and commercial basis.
Member banks may be partners and clients simultaneously and can
launch single european payments areas (SEPA) services from January
2008. Founder members include
Bank of America, Citi, Dexia Bank, Fortis,
Lloyds TSB, RBS and
Santander.
VocaLink has created the €CSM to help bank customers benefit
from SEPA. The creation of a new liberalised payments landscape
creates both opportunities and challenges, it said.
Banks must establish sufficient scale and geographic reach to
offer a competitive payment service. For many banks, going it alone
does not make commercial sense, said VocaLink.
The VocaLink €CSM platform immediately establishes a network of
significant European banks that ensures reach throughout the SEPA
region and beyond.
In addition to core transaction processing services, banks will
benefit from the development of new transaction services that
include corporate access services, direct debit mandate management,
payment exceptions management, AML and OFAC compliance, as well as
non-SEPA payment processing.
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