Norkom Technologies, a provider of financial crime and compliance software for the global financial services industry, has completed the first roll out of its SEPA-ready crime and compliance software. The deployment, for a world top-ten bank, was completed in time for the formal launch of the SEPA (Single European Payments Area) for credit transfers on 28 January.

The launch of SEPA, which now applies to credit transfers, will shortly be applied to direct debits and, later, card transactions, is set to change the face of payments processing between the initial thirty-one countries affected, creating a standard process for cross border financial transactions. For consumers it will mean faster, simplified cashless transactions. For the banks it bring improved access to competing clearing and settlement mechanisms (CSMs), improved routing and better information.

Capgemini estimates that SEPA could save financial firms EUR 123 billion over the next six years; but research by the Central European Bank (ECB) confirms that these savings will be deferred and inflated operating costs incurred as long as firms are operating two systems. The ECB urges firms to implement SEPA quickly to achieve economies of scale as payment revenues drop in the face of competitive market pressure.

"Norkom has invested ahead of the curve to ensure that a fully SEPA-ready crime and compliance solution is available for firms eager to act fast," confirms Doyle. Its software has also been designed to fast-track firms' adoption of all future SEPA and UNIFI standard processes. "It is important to recognise that SEPA is also a bridgehead for the introduction the ISO20022 global payments standard, better known as UNIFI (Universal Financial Industry Message Scheme), which will transform payment processing on a global basis. We expect UNIFI to generate more than 300 individual message types over the next six years for a range of transaction types; we have designed our software so that it will immediately recognise each new message as it occurs and adapt its transaction monitoring processes automatically. This will dramatically reduce implementation time and the cost of change firms must incur."

This BeyeNETWORK news item contains information from a recent press release by the company mentioned.

SOURCE: Norkom Delivers First Roll Out of SEPA-Ready Crime and Compliance Software