Practitioners Creating Europe-Wide Payment Infrastructures March 2012 About the Cover Art Building Connections for the Future Takes Vision, Know- How and Passion
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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 Practitioners creating Europe-wide payment infrastructures March 2012 About the cover art Building connections for the future takes vision, know- how and passion. Sustainable infrastructures are de- signed to efficiently channel traffic flows, mitigate risks and flexibly adapt to changing usage patterns and re- quirements. EBA CLEARING is pleased to present to you selected design studies on public transport hubs for the city of the future, created by Atelier d’Architecture et de Design Jim Clemes s.a. Photography The photos in this report were taken in the Paris and Brussels offices of EBA CLEARING. We would like to thank everyone who participated in this photo project. 1205/650 REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 EBA CLEARING 4 Overview 2011 5 EURO1 Service 6 STEP1 Service 10 STEP2 Platform 12 STEP2 SCT Service 14 STEP2 SDD Core and B2B Services 16 STEP2 XCT Service 18 STEP2 ICT Service 19 STEP2 IET Service 19 MyBank e-payment initiative 20 System performance, maintenance 22 and enhancements Resilience, information security and 23 business continuity management Customer support 24 Outlook 2012 25 Board Committees, User Advisory Groups 26 and Working Groups The Board 28 The Management 28 Country Representatives 30 EBA CLEARING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 3 EBA CLEARING Cost-saving infrastructure solutions for an integrated euro payments environment EBA CLEARING is a bank-owned provider of pan- The Company is also working on pan-European so- European payment infrastructure solutions. Estab- lutions in the e-payment area. MyBank, an online lished in 1998 by 52 banks, the Company had 65 banking based e-authorisation service, will start into shareholders by March 2012. The mission of EBA its technical pilot phase on 4th June 2012. CLEARING is to offer efficient and cost-effective so- lutions in the co-operative space, which generate Through regular user group meetings as well as savings within its user banks. information and training sessions, both at Europe- an and country level, EBA CLEARING entertains a EBA CLEARING is the leading private sector pro- direct and intensive exchange with its user com- vider of pan-European payment services in euro. munity. This user-centred approach has forged the It owns and operates EURO1, a large-value pay- Company’s unique market responsiveness as a co- ment system with an RTGS-equivalent net settle- operative and country-neutral undertaking in a fast ment arrangement, and STEP1, a single payment changing environment. system for small and medium-sized banks, as well as STEP2, a Pan-European Automated Clearing In co-operation with the Euro Banking Association, House (PE-ACH) platform processing retail credit EBA CLEARING takes an important part in the bank- transfers and direct debits. By March 2012, close to ing industry’s efforts to create, maintain and evolve 300 banks across Europe were directly connected an integrated pan-European payments environment to the services offered by EBA CLEARING. meeting the needs of the banks and their customers in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). 4 EBA CLEARING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 Overview 2011 Over the past year, the pan-European infrastruc- Reform Program saw a first set of deliverables im- ture solutions of EBA CLEARING affirmed their key plemented throughout the year, which were geared position in the European payments industry, pro- at further improving the participants’ liquidity recy- viding efficient and reliable services to the Com- cling and credit risk management capabilities. pany’s large user community across the continent. The services proved to be crucial components of Preparations were made on the STEP2 platform the banks’ strategies for successfully dealing with to equip the SCT Service with additional settle- the key challenges of 2011 and preparing for future ment cycles in February 2012 and a batch pro- challenges. cessing functionality in April 2012. These enhance- ments tied in with the Company’s ongoing efforts By supporting banks in maximising their liquidity to prepare the STEP2 SEPA Services for the con- usage and minimising risk, the EURO1 system was siderable pick-up of domestic traffic expected in of major value to its participants in a year that was the run-up to the SEPA migration end-date. EBA again marked by considerable liquidity constraints CLEARING launched the SEPA Large Volume Ex- and increasing risk concerns in the market. The change Project in late 2011 to ensure readiness for sound and smooth operation of the system was the SEPA ramp-up phase both at the level of the reconfirmed in 2011 in the oversight assessment senders and receivers of large domestic volumes conducted by the European Central Bank. and at the level of STEP2. STEP2 reinforced its position as a cornerstone The Company also continued its efforts aimed at of the industry’s SEPA migration strategy: EBA further strengthening the operational robustness of CLEARING’s PE-ACH accounted for over a third its services by reinforcing the underlying organisa- of the SEPA Credit Transfers channelled through tional structure and processes. Following the cre- CSMs. The platform attracted further domestic ation of a dedicated Unit centralising Information volumes in 2011, as the Finnish community com- Security and Business Continuity related matters, pleted the migration of its credit transfers to STEP2 the Company rolled out an Information Security SCT and a dedicated Irish Transfer Service was Management System over the past year. launched for Irish legacy retail payments. STEP2 also provided banks with an easy and cost-effective In September 2011, EBA CLEARING put in place way to implement D+1 end-to-end service levels, a risk management function, including the creation which the Payment Services Directive made man- of a Board Risk Committee. The Committee assists datory from 1st January 2012 on. the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities with regard to the risk appetite of the Company and As a result of an extensive consultation with its the risk management and compliance framework. users, EBA CLEARING took a number of important steps in 2011 to further evolve its services in line with their future needs as well as with the regulato- ry and oversight outlook. The EURO1 Review and EBA CLEARING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 5 EURO1 Service KEY FACTS AND FIGURES Participation (status: March 2012) 65 Participants / 50 Sub-Participants FUNCTION REACH RTGS-equivalent large-value payment system on a multi- Close to 10,000 participant BICs and over 20,000 additional lateral net basis, for single euro transactions of high priority BICs reachable via EURO1/STEP1 Participants as listed in and urgency, and primarily of large amount EURO1/STEP1 Directory LIVE Date END-OF-DAY SETTLEMENT 4th January 1999 in TARGET2 via Ancillary System Interface (ASI) TECHNICAL Operator SPECIAL FACTS OR Features IN 2011/2012 SWIFT • Volume rise of 5.5 percent in 2011, including a new all-time volume record with 260,978 payments processed AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME on average per day in December 2011 248,163 transactions • EURO1 Review and Reform Program successfully kicked off in 2011 with liquidity and credit risk management AVERAGE DAILY Value enhancements EUR 245 billion LEGAL BASIS • Single Obligation Structure (SOS) recognised and enforceable in every EU jurisdiction and OECD juris dictions outside the EU where participants have their registered Head Offices • Compliant with the 10 Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems (SIPS) • Overseen by the European Central Bank EURO1: average daily volume of payments processed 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 2009 2010 2011 2012 6 EBA CLEARING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 A compelling combination of high liquidity December 2011 saw an all-time record with 260,978 efficiency and minimal credit risk payments processed on average per day, which was EURO1 proved to be a very helpful tool for banks 13.6 percent up on the previous month and con- over the past year in the face of rising liquidity cost siderably surpassed the previous peak of 249,042 and credit risk constraints. Combining a high level back in March 2008. This significant increase was of liquidity efficiency and low levels of collateral partly a result of the closing down of the STEP2 with sound settlement and counterparty risk man- XCT Service on 5th December 2011. agement mechanisms, the service was well-placed to support banks in their efforts to maximise their Wide reach: 30,000+ BICs across the world liquidity recycling capacity and minimise risk expo- addressable through EURO1/STEP1 Participants sure. EBA CLEARING continued to enhance the The number of EURO1 Participants and Sub-Par- EURO1 platform in both of these key areas through- ticipants slightly decreased in 2011 and early 2012, out 2011 as part of the EURO1 Review and Reform due to mergers and other market consolidation pro- Program. cesses. By the end of March 2012, EURO1 counted 65 direct participants and 50 sub-participants, rep- On the rise: volumes and values in EURO1 resenting close to 10,000 participant BICs. The attractiveness of the EURO1 offering was reflected in the rise of the average daily volumes In addition, over 20,000 identities were addressa- service volumes in 2011 by 5.5 percent. The daily ble via EURO1/STEP1 Participants or Sub-Partic- average value increased by 4 percent and stood at ipants based on the EURO1/STEP1 Directory. To- EUR 249 billion throughout the year. gether with SWIFT, EBA CLEARING has started a project to enhance the functionality and usage of the EURO1/STEP1 Directory. EBA CLEARING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 7 8 EBA CLEARING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2011 Positive assessment: EURO1 system complies EURO1. The new measures have enabled banks to with all 10 Core Principles more flexibly define the extent of their counterpar- In November 2011, the European Central Bank ty exposures in the EURO1 system and to adjust (ECB) published the results of an assessment of these more quickly.