According to Microsoft, the solution will help enable faster payment processing times, reduce overall operating costs for Bankdata and bring cost efficiencies to each of Bankdata’s member banks. The project went live on time at the end of January 2008 and is part of the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) Scheme, which enables organizations to make Euro credit transfers domestically and across borders within a maximum of three days.
Microsoft has said that Bankdata will transform its payments system in multiple phases. Four member banks are now sending Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments via the Microsoft technology-based platform, and since June 2008, Bankdata has been able to send SEPA payments via home banking applications, increasing the number of payments being processed.
Sheida Hadji-Ashrafi, worldwide industry manager for payments at Microsoft, said: Many of our customers are looking to modernize their Swift infrastructure, simplify their back office and improve the interoperability of payments systems with legacy applications. To do this, banks turn to Microsoft for our business process management and advanced enterprise application integration technology and for our deep understanding of the issues that the payments industry faces.
