519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 1

THE INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC PAYMENT NETWORK EUROGIRO

News Contents August 2003 3 /

Deutsche Postbank is the new EUR Postal Accounting Center – Settlement Service Provider 2 in step with time

Deutsche Postbank AG has been selected as the new Settlement Service Coaching in Senegal Provider for Euro transactions in EUROGIRO (ESSP). 3

•New contract between EUROGIRO and Steady growth in Eurogiro Deutsche Postbank 4 while preparing for the future

October 2003 – 29 January 2004 • Members continue with Bank as General User Group ESSP. Freeze on implementation of new 5 meeting 2003 members onto the service •Testing and training with Deutsche Postbank to prepare the migration and the Exchange of experiences new service 6 •Test between Nordea Bank and Deutsche Postbank Western Union and Eurogiro – •Bilateral agreements between Deutsche working together across borders Dirk Berensmann, member Postbank and ESSP users will be finalised 7 of the Board of Directors of Deutsche Postbank 30 January 2004 • “Big Bang“ migration from Nordea Bank 7 Definitions on the web “We are very proud to have been selected“, to Deutsche Postbank. Deutsche Postbank announced Deutsche Postbank‘s Dirk takes over all services from Nordea Bank. Berensmann, Board Member for Operations Eurogiro Pension Payments and IT “We will do everything to ensure a 1 April 2004 8 Seminar simple and very smooth migration to the • Nordea terminates its EUROGIRO service services. For the members there will be as little changes as possible to adjust“. The ESSP strengthens the overall service Turkish PTT joins the TMO level of the EUROGIRO parnership signi- 8 Deutsche Postbank will be offering the service ficantly, both for existing members and for to all EUROGIRO members for a probationary new members, but it is particularly important period of one year, from 1 February 2004 to that all members make use of the service to 31 January 2005, with the option for the service harvest the benefits. The value proposition to be prolonged if it proves to be satisfactory. from the account concentration and central € A Selection Committee will evaluate the service, settlement mainly stem from: taking into respect the views of the user. • Standardisation and simplicity in set-up The agreed time schedule and overall frame- • Better liquidity management work for the change in service providers, as • Funding costs reduced approved by the EUROGIRO Board, as • Reduced reconciliation costs follows: • Less repairs related to settlement • More automation in processing June 2003 – September 2003 • Not having to provide account service to • Members continue with Nordea Bank and members/or having to in a much more new members implement with Nordea limited degree Bank • “State of the art“ settlement set-up in the • Deutsche Postbank develops its settlement partnership service 519137-dok 20/08/03 13:49 Side 2

NEWS / INFORMATION

Eurogiro News is a magazine for the New Euro Settlement Service Provider promotion of information, ideas and knowledge within the Eurogiro community. This issue of the Eurogiro News will provide you with updates on Eurogiro News is published quarterly by: ongoing activities within Eurogiro Eurogiro Network A/S Carl Gustavs Gade 3, 1. tv DK- 2630 Taastrup ■ Denmark Eurogiro is happy to announce that Deutsche Postbank has been selected as the new Tel.: +45 43 71 27 72 Settlement Service Provider for Euro transactions in Eurogiro (ESSP). Along with excellent Fax: +45 43 71 26 62 service, a ‘seamless migration’ for the Eurogiro members have been key selection criteria e-mail: [email protected] and we are confident that the migration plan developed by Deutsche Postbank in co-operation with Nordea Bank will secure a smooth migration. Editor-in-Chief: Søren Rose Our managing director will take you through the first half of 2003 focusing on the Eurogiro Subscription enquiries: developments and activities. There are articles covering the New Members’ Seminar and Kai Thygesen, Editor General User Group Meeting in Munich and I hope that participating members will recognise Tel.: +45 43 31 12 47 e-mail: [email protected] the issues dealt with and the good atmosphere reflected in the photos. www.eurogiro.com We have news from Latvia, coaching in Senegal, TMO plans in Turkey and an update from No part of this publication may be Western Union photocopied or otherwise reproduced without the written consent of Eurogiro I hope you will find the topics interesting – and wish you all an enjoyable read. Network A/S

Printed by: Schultz Grafisk

Although Eurogiro Network A/S has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this publication, neither it nor any contributor can accept any legal responsibility whatso- ever for consequences that may arise from errors or omissions or any opinions or advice given. Søren Rose, Editor-in-Chief and Final editing: August 2003 Deputy Managing ISSN: 1727-7450 Director The Eurogiro network is an international electronic payment network and is the only electronic cross-border payment system which covers both postal and bank products. Eurogiro has 39 member institutions. Although Western Europe is the core area, Eurogiro now spans five continents. The electronic payment system of Eurogiro is administered by Eurogiro Network A/S in Copenhagen which also provides the organisational framework for the further COMMENTARY development of the co-operation. The com- pany is owned by 15 European members. Eurogiro Member institutions: Postal Accounting Center – in line with Austria: PSK/BAWAG • Belgium: Financial Post • Brazil: Empresa Brasileira de Correios the future e Telègrafos • Canada: National Bank of Canada • Cape Verde: Correios de Cabo Verde • China: China Post • Croatia: Hrvatska Post • Who are we? - Latvia Post is a fully state-owned non-profit Czech Republic: CSOB a.s. • Denmark: established on January 2, 1992, supervised by the Ministry of Transport and A/S • Estonia: Sampo Pank • the Communications and Public Utilities Commission. Finland: Sampo Bank Plc • France: La Poste • Germany: Deutsche Postbank AG • Greece: ■ At present there are 965 post offices and Hellenic Post • Hungary: Magyar Posta • 7500 postal workers all over Latvia. Latvia Iceland: Iceland Post • Ireland: AN Post • Israel: Israel Postal Authority • Italy: Poste Post has two daughter companies both Italiane • Japan: Japan Post, Postal Savings established in 1995 – Latvian Electronical Business Headquarters • Latvia: Latvia Post • Mail (LEM) and Latvia Post Service Network Luxembourg: P & T • Morocco: Barid Al (LPSN). LEM is responsible for the printing Maghrib • Netherlands: ING Bank of pension and relief orders, bills, monthly N.V./Postbank N.V. • Portugal: CTT Correios account balance-sheets, advertisements etc.; • Romania: Banc Post and Posta Romana • the second daughter company, Latvia Post Senegal: La poste • Slovakia: Postova Banka • Service Network was established to realise Slovenia: Postna banka Slovenije d.d. • Spain: and to maintain Latvia Post Computer BBVA and Correos y Telegrafos • Sweden: Nordea Bank • Switzerland: Swiss Post Network (LPCN) project. LPCN is covering Postfinance • Tunisia: La Poste • Turkey: the whole of Latvia and it allows not only the General Directorate of Post • United Kingdom: automation of the work of Latvia Post but also Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Plc. • ensures new postal services. USA: • Serbia & Montenegro: Dairis Krumins, Director of Postal Postal Savings Bank. Accounting Center, Latvia Post and Tija It is expected that during 2003 Latvia Post will Ezerina, Site and Host Co-ordinator generate the greatest part of its income from

2 519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 3

NEWS / INFORMATION

mail processing and delivery services. It is provides three kinds of international money expected that the amount of parcel sending transfer business – UPU money order, and the delivery service will increase. As well Western Union money transfer and Eurogiro as those utilities mentioned above, the money order. following services are also offered: • Press and advertisement delivery In Latvia Post the Eurogiro system is • Pension and relief payout managed by the Postal Accounting Center • Public payment collection (PAC). PAC is a branch of Latvia Post that • Domestic and international money transfers provides postal services connected with public payments and money orders and it ensures the In this coming year Latvia Post plans to invest function of Postal Accounting System (PAS). large amounts in its infrastructure – the PAC maintains and develops PAS. renewal of motor transport, acquisition of strongboxes and computer engineering, as PAS is a computerised finance system of well as the acquisition of print devices, telexes, settlements in Latvia Post that enables furniture and other inventory. Although the customers to open PAS accounts, receive increase in income over expenditure is not as money and perform cash settlements or trans- large as in the previous year, nevertheless the fers by clearing to other PAS accounts or to income of Latvia Post is increasing every credit institutions in Latvia or foreign coun- year. tries.

First to go live The Postal Accounting System is functioning Latvia Post signed the Eurogiro agreement on using LPCN technical equipment and Latvia Dairis Krumins, Director of Postal May 8, 2002, becoming the first Baltic state Post Computer Network has been created to Accounting Center and Eurogiro General to be working with the Eurogiro system live. proceed financial bargains, to provide protec- Contact To date (August 2003) Latvia Post has signed tion and security of information wherewith bilateral agreements with PostFinance - Swiss PAS can guarantee full security of the monthly account balance sheet to control Post, Deutsche Postbank AG and is now ready customers’ money. their finance actions. to expand its international business. PAS is not only a secure system, but it is also In September 2003 PAS is preparing to Since its establishment Latvia Post has very convenient because Latvia Post has large launch a new product called iPAS (Internet systematically developed – offering its post office coverage and is therefore available Postal Accounting System) in order to raise customers new services and also evolving for a large number of customers in all rural its competitiveness. It will enable clients to existing ones. In implementing and acquiring regions. One can use these system offerings perform different clearings – transfers to other the Eurogiro system, Latvia Post saw great even if the post office is not online. PAS of PAS accounts, bill payment, managing of own opportunities to improve its international Latvia Post is the only system of its kind in account – via the Internet. money order service. At present Latvia Post the whole Baltic state area. In further projects Postal Accounting Center Future visions has planned Since its establishment and launch in 1996, - to integrate domestic money orders in PAS the Postal Accounting System has been in order to evolve the online money transfer upgraded several times and the goal of system, which would speed up the receiving upgrades is not only to integrate PAS inter- of money orders from 3 days to 1 day face but to make it easier to control the flow - to develop more effective and informative of money and finances. advertising campaigns - to pay attention to employees’ quality of One of the projects last year was enforced in performance co-operation with one of the largest banks in - to form a stable and knowledgeable Latvia Hansabanka – now it is possible for Eurogiro team and to find new partners to PAS customers to route one or several expand the Eurogiro business Latvia Post Postal Accounting Center’s Maestro debit cards to their accounts. Once a EUROGIRO team month customers are mailed or e-mailed a

ployees who showed such an interest in the Coaching in Senegal Eurogiro implementation”, Jean-Luc said. After the initial presentation, the coaching La Poste in Senegal welcomed Jean-Luc Demierre to Dakar, program was adjusted to target 12 key per- 4th-11th June 2003 sonnel with whom he analysed the current organisation of the Senegalese postal finan- cial services. An action plan outlining the ■ As the most recent member of Eurogiro, La varying steps towards implementation of Poste was ready to receive coaching sessions Eurogiro was conducted and this process was from an experienced member, PostFinance, very important in highlighting the changes Swiss Post. Previously Jean-Luc Demierre necessary. The following topics were discussed has been a key person in similar sessions for during the coaching sessions: other new members and was looking forward to meeting this new African partner. On La Poste as sending institution: arrival in Dakar, General Director, Iba Joseph • Outgoing payments, cash and credits Basse and the contact person Sérigne Gueye • Centralising of payments into Dakar welcomed Jean-Luc, together with approxi- Central office mately 30 employees who were all interested • Data in-keying, data storing, value dating, Jean-Luc Demierre, in hearing more about Eurogiro. “I was accounting, liaison account management, PostFinance, Swiss Post pleasantly surprised by the number of em- ESSP

3 519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 4

NEWS / INFORMATION

• Handling of queries • Issuing the payment instrument start in September. “Despite some internal • Message types and currencies • Relation with post offices challenges to develop the organisation, I have •Agreements with partners • Return of payments and queries a feeling that the Senegalese have a great enthusiasm to make this project work, La Poste as receiving institution: The initial testing is planned to be with concludes Jean-Luc. • Incoming payments Switzerland, hopefully during August, and an • Choice of out-payment instrument optimistic guess is that live production could

Steady growth in Eurogiro while preparing for the future

Eurogiro continued good growth in the 1st half of 2003 while being engaged in significant development work, which is expected to fuel strong growth in the future

Finally, Eurogiro is in the end phase of dis- The Swift co-operation is an example of a cussions with Swift for a co-operation, which technological gateway. FED of a geographical will enable Eurogiro to function as a closed gateway. UPU and Western Union are examples user group within Swift. This will give savings of product (geographical) alliances/gateways. to existing and new Eurogiro/Swift members Eurogiro is furthermore in early discussions that will avoid double cost of the technical with other major payment providers to see if platforms. a co-operation could be made so that Eurogiro could act as a gateway into Europe A further major development is that Deutsche for credit payments, as is the case for FED Postbank was awarded the contract to act as payments. Euro settlement provider (ESSP) for the Eurogiro community. The change over from the With the business activities alongside the new existing provider: Postgirot in Sweden, will strategic activities (Gateway strategy) and the Henrik Parl, Managing take place on 1st February 2004 and will to a work within EU and EPC, Eurogiro is very Director in Eurogiro large degree be a seamless migration for the strongly positioned for capturing future Network A/S participants in the ESSP settlement schedule. opportunities. However, the turbulent market environment created by stronger competition, Deutsche Postbank was also the host of a and not least by the new EU regulation, puts successful User Group meeting in Munich. great pressure on all financial institutions, not The meeting gave participants the opportunity least on our members. Today, the combined to be updated on the development in Eurogiro forces of postal organisations probably consti- ■ In the first half of 2003 Eurogiro achieved and to influence the development in work- tute the biggest players on the financial market nearly 10 million transactions (including shops. The activity level was very high in Europe within retail business if not in Western Union). This corresponds to a growth regarding bilateral business discussions. The general. We believe that co-operations like of 17% compared to the first half of 2002. meeting also featured very interesting presen- Eurogiro are necessary to deal with the signifi- This is quite satisfactory taking into account tations from the European Payment Council cant challenges and help capture opportunities that Eurogiro is facing a major change in (Mr. Hartsink), Western Union (Mr. Hikmet in the market. We are certain that the numerous strategy and positioning in the market. From Ersek), Swift (Mr. Harry Newman), FED activities being performed presently help in being a European focused payment system, (Ms. Elizabeth McQuerry, VISA (Mr. doing this and it will lead to accelerated Eurogiro is more and more moving in the direc- Jonathan Valentine and Capco (Mr. Julian growth in the years to come, thereby further tion of becoming a global payment provider. Wakeham). The meeting next year will be enhancing the value proposition for members held in the city of The Beatles: Liverpool, and (banks and postal) and alliance partners. Eurogiro is in the process of implementing will be hosted by Alliance & Leicester Bank. some of these new solutions. The co-operation Thank you to all members and partners for with Federal Reserve of the US for a trans- In spite of the many development projects, significant contributions to our success in the atlantic gateway for credit payments is moving Eurogiro continues to direct focus on expanding 1st half of 2003. forward according to plans. The basic soft- the network. To fill the vacuum in the Nordic ware has already been developed and system countries, Eurogiro is conducting discussions testing is being conducted at the moment. with 9 organisations in the 4 Nordic countries Testing with the pilot countries (Bawag/PSK, and new solutions are expected before the end Deutsche Postbank, ING/Postbank, Swiss of the year. There are furthermore discussions PostFinance and Alliance & Leicester Bank) will with, among others, banks and postal organisa- take place over the late summer. A limited pro- tions in the US, India, Greece, Ireland, duction is expected to commence in November. Balkans, Baltic and Asia.

Eurogiro is also continuing the discussions In the first half of 2003 we were very happy Gateway role of Eurogiro with Western Union in a very constructive to welcome Bank Slaski from Poland as well and friendly atmosphere and a new 5-year as La Poste in Senegal. agreement is expected to replace the existing agreement which expires in November 2003. The actions and activities fit very well into POST BANK the strategy recently approved by the SWIFT

The Tele Money Order (TMO) is also sche- Eurogiro Board. The vision is to see the UPU/ duled for a limited production by the end of the Eurogiro as a solution and co-operation to Western SEPA year and it is hoped that an agreement can be link different products, geographical areas, Union reached with UPU to enlarge the geographical networks, alliance partners and to function as

coverage of the TMO product. The TMO is a a link between the Postal world and the bank REST OF FED 2-day cash product intended to be a modernised world. This is illustrated in the figure where THE EUROPE WORLD version of the somewhat outdated postal money Eurogiro acts as a gateway between different order. participants in the payment market.

4 519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 5

NEWS / INFORMATION

The trends force the service providers to find General User Group meeting 2003 ways to reduce the costs of processing cross border payments. Mr. Hartsink from the A look towards the future of payments European Payments Council (EPC) presented some issues that the EPC is dealing with. First of all, the forming of a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). All euroland pay- ments are in future to be regarded as dome- stic payments. In 2002 it was decided that there should be no difference between domestic and crossborder card payments. This year the same applies for credit transfers (till EUR 12.500). Looking at cash less cross border transactions, as many as 83.2% are card pay- ments, the remainder being credit transfers and cheques. Several initiatives to keep costs down have been launched: the credeuro - a 100% straight through processing (STP) credit transfer, a pan European direct debit, a pan European automated clearing house (ACH) which should be a business platform for the provision of euro retail payment instruments and basic related services, made up of governance rules and payments prac- tices and supported by the necessary technical platform(s). The cash payments are costly and safety is definitely the main precondition. EPC has already adopted some recommendations, e.g.: - Banks to develop joint cards and cash strategies - Banks to promote electronic products, in liaison with other stakeholders - Promote Europe wide standardisation of requirements for equipment -Develop best practices to guide banks in enhancing cash service operations - Banking industry to study a utility type wholesale infrastructure for cash handling

Eurogiro is certainly aware of the new trends and regulations and the company has spent quite some time on analysing future opportunities. According to the new strategy, Eurogiro aims at being more of a solutions provider, i.e. offering the members new busi- ness opportunities by entering into new alliances and at the same time reducing costs. At the User Group, Mr Valentine presented Visa Direct: a cross border money transfer service for Visa EU banks, which will, for example, lower costs for banks. In brief, Visa Direct is a bank to bank service and a pass through: no funds are held.

Mr. Hikmet Ersek from Western Union gave an interesting presentation on Western Union and their relationship with postal organisa- tions. Additional excellent presentations were made by Mr. Harry Newman, SWIFT and Mr. At the User Group business is discussed - also in a very relaxed atmosphere… Max Flury, Swiss Post, who was covering the Eurogiro SWIFT issues.

■ As always – on the last day of the meeting ments infrastructure. However, some emerging If you have access to the Eurogiro Intranet – the floor was given to speakers from trends are: you can find the above mentioned presenta- organisations operating in the payments market. -Payment system consolidation and the tions on www.eurogiro.com/ by entering the What is happening in the payments market? – emergence of SEPA systems members log-in and clicking on ”Documen- and what does the future look like? Julian - Additional upgrade of existing services tation” in the left hand-side menu and then Wakeham from Capco has been supporting - Accession countries will rapidly develop ”Presentations” in the top menu. In addition Eurogiro in its strategy work by studying the new systems for high value, retail and card to these User Group 2003 presentations, you market and the trends in the EU. It seems that payments can also find other User Group presentations, today a highly fragmented payments in- -A number of alternative payment solutions e.g. the alliance with the Federal Reserve frastructure has developed. In particular, the will emerge (Visa Direct) Bank, the new 2 days cash product, the regulators have been/are challenging the - In the long term 3 types of payment systems SWIFT co-operation, Western Union, FATF traditional payment continuum. In the short will develop: interbank, hub based, issues – and all the general Eurogiro topics. term this will lead to a more complex pay- point2point

5 519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 6

NEWS / INFORMATION Exchange of experiences The members present expressed great satisfaction from the New Members’ Seminar in Munich May 2003

Deutsche Bank is one of the world’s largest USD clearers and a committed leader with a strategic focus on commercial payment solu- tions.

■ The participants considered the recent New new members and ideas were exchanged Members’ Seminar in Munich, hosted by among all participants and the discussions Deutsche Postbank, a great success. The covered some good issues. The results of the meeting contained a mix of presentations discussions were valuable as input to the from the Eurogiro members and internally numerous working groups in Eurogiro dealing from Eurogiro, together with a discussion with new development. group and bilateral discussions. The final external presentation focused on the development scenarios for postal financial services by Hans Boon, ING Bank in the Netherlands. First he went through the European electronic and physical distribution infrastructure for personal financial services and showed differences in cash versus cash- less payments and concluded by discussing the development scenarios with vision, stra- tegy, action and structure. Hans Boon has great experience in developing postal organisations by helping them to develop and implement a business unit of financial services or the set-up of a partnership.

All participants benefited from the bilateral The three participants from the National discussions where the members could meet in Bank of Canada, Alistair Sinclair, Robert a more relaxed atmosphere and discuss new Caviola and Eric de Feydeau, gave a joint agreements. The bilateral agreement discussion presentation on their Eurogiro implementa- was one of the most valuable sessions at the tion experiences, which was very well new members’ seminar according to the parti- received by the new members who are facing cipants. The main reason for this was that similar challenges at the moment in terms of there was an opportunity for a new member forming a project team, adjusting the to meet several institutions and thus avoid the organisation, evaluating and planning. time consuming alternative of setting up meetings, travelling and sending correspon- dence back and forth. Here all initial contact can be taken and even draft agreements be made. All participants had an extra opportu- Uwe Holmsgaard, IT Director at Eurogiro nity to talk with each other and relax at the Network gave an update on how to optimise the dinner hosted by Eurogiro. system set-up and covered issues like the latest developments, procedures, contingency and tests. The Eurogiro system has been in pro- duction for more than 11 years and is con- tinuously developed and enhanced with new functionality based on the feedback and re- quirements from the members. He also focused on the different solutions Eurogiro has for the Western Union interface, of which the latest is an Internet e-banking solution.

Timothy Merrel from Deutsche Bank focused The discussion group considered cross border his presentation on the Eurogiro alliance role payments products and services of each as a gateway for US dollar payments to the member institution present: Here the “old” United States and to the rest of the world. members shared their experiences with the

6 519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 7

NEWS / INFORMATION Western Union and Eurogiro – working together across borders

Hikmet Ersek, Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Western Union, addressed delegates at the Eurogiro Conference on 23 May 2003.

Today, there are 86 postal organisations working Innovative joint venture with with Western Union. These administrations La Poste have already seen the benefits additional services can bring to their business. For them, it In February 2003, Western Union and La is more than just a money transfer service. Poste announced the creation of a joint venture in France: Société Financière de Paiements.

Hikmet Ersek, Western Union

As Mr. Ersek explained at the conference: “The joint venture, Société Financière de ■ His presentation focused on Western Paiements, is mutually beneficial. For La Union’s relationship with postal organisations Poste the joint venture opens the doors to and in particular the significant growth in France’s money transfer market and the postal locations. He also revealed the scale of potential to significantly increase its revenue increases that postal businesses have revenue. For Western Union, the relation- enjoyed since they started working with ship provides an innovative platform from Western Union. which we can expand our services in one of the most significant markets in Western Union accounts for the majority of Western Europe.” First Data Corporation’s $3.2 billion Payment Services business and, with its Payment Services affiliates, it completed nearly 240 “At the end of the day, there are many entities The Western Union services and systems million money transfers globally in 2002. that can provide a money transfer service,” leverage the scale, technology and best prac- said Mr. Ersek. “The difference with Western tices of First Data Corporation’s leadership Western Union has a network of over 150,000 Union is that we have spent more than 150 position in the card issuing and merchant pro- agent locations in more than 190 countries years creating a service and brand that peo- cessing industry around the world. and territories around the world. These loca- ple, all over the world, trust for reliability, con- tions are primarily well-known financial venience and speed. It is the power and the First Data Corporation makes it possible for institutions and post offices. reach of the Western Union brand, more than businesses and consumers to move money and a money transfer service that brings paying information with convenience, efficiency and Success stories customers into our agent locations.” security. More than a competitive advantage, To demonstrate the growth and types of rela- its infrastructure provides endless opportu- tionship Western Union is developing with A safe choice nities for the development of integrated postal organisations, Mr. Ersek presented With every transaction that is made, Western services and solutions for postal businesses. case studies of the work with the Dutch Post Union aims to meet or exceed the rules and Bank in the Netherlands, Hrvatska Posta in regulations governing international money www.firstdata.com • www.westernunion.com Croatia and Banc Post and Posta Romana in transfers. Western Union strives to have the Romania. Most recently Magyar Posta in most advanced regulatory compliance system Hungary joined forces with Western Union. in the world. To meet this ambition it actively As a result, on 1 July, Western Union Money monitors and supports its agents to ensure Transfer® services became available at 300 they meet or exceed its compliance standards. post office locations across Hungary.

Definitions on the web

Inspired at the General User Group Meeting in Munich an easy access to definitions of often used abbreviations and acronyms has been implemented on the Eurogiro web-site

■ Our web-site www.eurogiro.com has been The document will be updated on a regularly updated with such a facility. On the home basis. You are welcome to provide input to this page (members log-in is not necessary) you new feature by e-mailing [email protected] will find ”Acronyms and Glossary” in the left-hand menu, and one click here brings you Eurogiro members still have the opportunity directly to the document with often used to find all other relevant Eurogiro documen- abbreviations and their respective definitions. tation by entering the members’ log-in.

7 519137-dok 19/08/03 12:15 Side 8

NEWS / INFORMATION

Eurogiro Pension Payments Seminar Activity Calendar Growing the pension payments business in Eurogiro Autumn 2003

■ Eurogiro is inviting its members to a At the Think-Tank meeting members will be pension “Think Tank Seminar“ on the 11th of • updated on the recent information on 11 September September 2003 in Airport. The industry conditions & market trends and Eurogiro Pension Payments Seminar, pension business has long been an important clarify the opportunities of the growing Frankfurt business for many Eurogiro members. The pension market in Europe and the advan- business suits them very well in their role as tages (and limitations of) the Eurogiro payment handling specialists and the market services related to pension payments, 7 – 9 October, Brussels for pension payments is expected to grow herein product offerings and member POST-EXPO steadily in the years to come. The Eurogiro experiences payment service is tailored to provide cost •given an opportunity to influence the efficient exchange of cross border pension Eurogiro service offering and develop- 20 – 24 October, Singapore payments and the Eurogiro members ment for pension payments SIBOS generally provide attractive conditions for •given unique possibilities to create a net- receipt of pension payments. work across the Eurogiro partnership between people within the area of pen- 30 – 31 October There are, however, challenges to overcome sions and share ideas with counterparts in Eurogiro Board Meeting, Paris to win the business and to be profiting from other Eurogiro member institutions the business, and these challenges are increasing with the introduction of the EU By attending a focused session on a high Charging Regulation and the impact on the potential growth area with counterparts in European Payment industry. The focus will be Eurogiro partner institutions it is likely to be an on the new challenges and on the business of important catalyst to enhance business opportu- cross border pension payments with all main nities in the member organisations. Registration related aspects to identify ways to get the by members directly to Eurogiro Network, most out of the opportunities. Networking Kai Thygesen, email: [email protected] with specialist colleagues in Eurogiro member FAX +45 4371 2662, no admission fee. institutions will be of key importance as well. Subjects to be covered in the next issue: Eurogiro Reminder ◆ Eurogiro Pension Payments STP is defined as correct IBAN and BIC Seminar Eurogiro follows the new definition of Straight Through Processing in Europe, with effect from 1 July 2003: credits must have correct and validated IBAN and BIC. ◆ Update on urgent cash provider

EU and the European Central Bank stipulate the use of IBAN and BIC for STP credit ◆ Promotion activities in Israel transfers. All members must be able to accept and forward transactions with IBAN and BIC. The European Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS) and the organisation for ◆ FED going live International Standards (ISO) are behind the structure of all bank account numbers: International Bank Account Number – IBAN ◆ TMO in pilot phase S.W.I.F.T. issues the ISO standardised Bank Identification Code – BIC ◆ Internal promotion campaign MT-100/103 converter to be shut down 1st of November 2003 For some time Eurogiro has run a converter that allowed the old 100 message type to be processed as the new 103 message type. As of 1st of November 2003 only the 103 message type will be accepted according to the general agreements. All necessary changes must be implemented prior to this date.

Please forward ideas, comments, Turkish PTT joins the TMO better quality product than the traditional articles etc. to: money order. The TMO service is suitable for the customers who do not expect high Eurogiro Network A/S Why does Turkish PTT want to urgency with its medium price and speed. join the new Tele Money Order Carl Gustavs Gade 3, 1. tv DK-2630 Taastrup (TMO) project? So, from the commercial point of view it Denmark should be very profitable to be able to offer Att.: Kai Thygesen ■ “We have commercial and technical this product. e-mail: [email protected] reasons for this. For over 50 years Turkish PTT has been offering normal international From a technical point of view, Turkish PTT Money Order services to its clients. In has 700 computerised post offices all over addition, we are planning to offer the Western Turkey. Money Orders can be sent to these Union urgent cash product in the near future. post offices electronically whether they are sent via Eurogiro or by e-mail to our exchange The TMO is a product between urgent cash office by the issuing countries. and traditional Money Order and it will be an alternative to the traditional Money Order, For the above mentioned reasons Turkish PTT which is losing its share of the market. The expressed an interest TMO is sent from sender to beneficiary within in the implementa- two days and we do not have to advice the tion of a two day beneficiary as the sender will provide him product with high with pick-up information. In addition having coverage”. track and trace functionality the TMO is a

8