VIENNA, Austria, September 17 /PRNewswire/ -- WestLB AG and VocaLink, the payment transaction specialists, signed a cooperation agreement for processing SEPA payments at the SIBOS international banking fair in Vienna. The agreement paves the way for direct routing of all payments by banks connected to VocaLink in favour of savings banks in Germany and vice-versa. WestLB will utilise the opportunities afforded by VocaLink through its Euro CSM (Clearing & Settlement Mechanism). In return, VocaLink will profit from the networking of WestLB in the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. Synergies from the networking ultimately benefit all customers through low-cost and timely processing of their payment transfers.
With this agreement WestLB enables VocaLink, in a first step, to obtain direct access to PAYCE, the Automated Clearing House of the German savings banks and Landesbanks. With over 7 billion transactions PAYCE is one of the largest clearing houses in Europe for transfers, direct debits and card transactions. The agreement therefore represents a further networking of clearing systems. Going forward further cooperation agreements are planned with the envisaged launch of the SEPA Direct Debit in November 2009.
Steffen Kowalski, member of the divisional board at WestLB, said:
"The cooperation agreement signed with VocaLink will yield process and cost advantages for the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. I am therefore particularly pleased that WestLB not only makes an important contribution to SEPA but can also further expand its role in the payments field in partnership with the savings banks."
Martin Wilson, chief commercial officer at VocaLink, said: "We are delighted that WestLB has joined our community of banks and is able to send and receive payments in and out of Germany through our Euro CSM. This further illustrates the attractiveness of our SEPA offering to European banks."
Following the introduction of SEPA (Single Euro Payment Area), the system designed to harmonise payment transactions in Europe, networking is becoming increasingly important. Already today more than 100 million payments in Europe are processed annually as low-cost, standardised cross-border transfers. These numbers will rise significantly with the progressive implementation of SEPA.
About WestLB AG:
WestLB AG is a European commercial bank with headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most densely populated federal state. With Group total assets of EUR 267.9 billion as of June 30, 2008, it is one of Germany's leading financial services providers. It is the central institution for the roughly 125 savings banks in the states North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg and acts as their link to the global financial markets. Working in close partnership with the savings banks, WestLB offers the full range of products and services of a universal bank, focusing on lending, structured finance, capital market and private equity products, asset management, transaction services and real estate finance. WestLB employed 5,994 staff as of June 30, 2008. WestLB is one of Germany's leading banks in the payments field. With a total of 1.8 billion transactions, it has a market share of approximately 11 per cent. Please visit www.transactionservices.westlb.com for more information about transaction services.
About VocaLink:
VocaLink is a specialist provider of transaction services to banks, their corporate customers and Government departments. It processes domestic and international automated payments and provides ATM switching solutions. On a peak day, the VocaLink automated payment platform processes over 90 million transactions and over half a billion in a month. Its switching platform connects the world's busiest ATM network of over 60,000 ATMs. Its Real-Time Payments platform provides the central infrastructure for the UK Faster Payments service. VocaLink is working with BGC to provide outsourced processing for the majority of Sweden's domestic payments.
Having pioneered electronic payments, many of the world's top banks and their corporate customers rely on VocaLink to meet their transaction needs. Its processing services offer banks reach throughout the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and beyond; and are complemented by value-added services that leverage industry expertise and technical capabilities. Please visit http://www.vocalink.com for more information.
WestLB AG, Group Communications, Herzogstrasse 15, 40217 Düsseldorf, Germany, Tel. +49-211-826-2210 / 2308 / 3072, Fax +49-211-826-2588, presse@westlb.de
WestLB AG, Group Communications, Herzogstrasse 15, 40217 Düsseldorf, Germany, Tel. +49-211-826-2210 / 2308 / 3072, Fax +49-211-826-2588, presse@westlb.de
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