| To mark the formal completion of the merger of payment providers, Voca and LINK, the new company, VocaLink, today announced that it is launching Europe’s first independent pan-European payment service in partnership with 10 banks operating in Europe, including ABN Amro, Bank of America, Citi, Dexia Bank, Fortis, Lloyds TSB, RBS and Santander.
The new service, called €CSM, will be launched in January 2008 and will provide core SEPA payment transaction processing services plus additional services such as corporate access, direct debit mandate management, payment exceptions management, and both AML and the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) compliance, as well as non-SEPA payment processing.
Mike Hampson, Head of Financial Institutions, Transaction Banking at ABN Amro said "The launch of this new clearing and settlement mechanism opens a new chapter in international payments. SEPA raises many complex challenges and it makes sense for European banks to solve these together. ABN Amro is therefore delighted to work with VocaLink to help establish this bank network that ensures reach and inter-connectivity throughout the SEPA and beyond."
Tackling SEPA, with its objectives of making cross-border payments as easy and as cheap is national payments, can be expensive for banks and Vocalink €CSM should provide economies of scale plus an established network of significant European banks. VocaLink already processes over 90 per cent of UK salaries and 15 per cent of Europe’s automated payments. Vocalink €CSM is expected to process more than 8 billion transactions annually.
| 
