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Nordic Payment provider PBS awarded STEP2 certification

Clear2Pay’s Open Payment Framework STEP2-ready for SDD

Hong Kong, 15 September 2009 – PBS, a leading Nordic payment provider and Clear2Pay, the international technology provider of next generation payment solutions for financial institutions announce today that the PBS SEPA service has been certified by the EBA for Direct Debit processing via STEP2.

The achievement of full compliance with STEP2 is of paramount important in relation to the imminent launch of the SEPA Direct Debit scheme in November 2009. PBS is one of the largest payment processors outside the Euro area and has to date signed up 120 clients for the SDD processing service. The service, fuelled by Clear2Pay’s Open Payment Framework technology, is one of the first of to be fully compliant with STEP2.

Mr. Per Terp, Director of Payments at PBS comments: " STEP2 compliance is significant because it demonstrates the unique viability of an outsourced approach to SEPA. Just being compliant alone is a major investment for a financial institution and does not offer a business case for clients in itself. Our entire service offer focuses on offering value added services on top of payments processing. We can offer just that because we are a niche player who can afford to dedicate resources to both ends of the spectrum – compliance and a meaningful and rich services offering.”

Mark Hartley, VP Global Strategy and CMO and Clear2Pay states: “As the SEPA Direct Debit launch date approaches our discussions with clients increasingly focus on the operational effort and cost of being SEPA compliant. Many challenges in the area of the mandate management, supervision of transactions, tracing, cash and risk management have to be met and this is not an undertaking every bank is able or willing to undertake.

PBS is a great partner because they understand the issues involved for banks and corporates in- and outside the Eurozone. Our platform has fulfilled its promise in that the STEP2 compliance tests were executed in a short time frame without fault.”

 

About PBS

PBS specialises in electronic payment services. PBS develops and operates solutions for payment systems and is a leading supplier of payment solutions and related services to banks, private associations and public institutions. PBS operates in Denmark and the Nordic region, where it offer its customers tailor-made solutions based on a 35-year track record in electronic payment processing, a strong network in Denmark and the Nordic region and in-depth knowledge of customers' payment processes. PBS is at the cutting edge of developments, always using state-of-the-art technology, which enables them to offer innovative solutions. The solutions, based on a unique production platform, cover a broad spectrum of services to streamline and optimise their customers' payment processes in a fast and secure manner at competitive prices.

 

About Clear2Pay

Clear2Pay is an innovative financial technology company focused on delivering globally applicable solutions for secure, timely electronic payments. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the company facilitates banks and financial organisations in their provision of payments services. Clear2Pay's technology helps to reduce transactions processing costs, and to deliver new, compelling payment services in a competitive way. Clear2Pay's payment solutions offer organisations easy, branded ways for their customers to pay online: from complex trade-supporting business-to-business environments, through e-commerce applications, to retail payments and remittance services. Functions embrace payments origination, reporting, linkage with backoffice processing systems, clearing, netting and settlement. Clients include global and major regional financial institutions such as ING, Banco Santander, Crédit Agricole, VISA, MasterCard, ABN AMRO, Nordea, Abbey National, Fortis Bank, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank. Clear2Pay operates out of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, China, Malaysia and Singapore and currently employs over 450 staff.

More information is available on www.clear2pay.com

 

For more information:

Clear2Pay NV/SA
Conny Dorrestijn - VP Marketing and Communications
E:
T: +31 651 067201

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