The results achieved by SIA show a further improvement after that recorded in the previous financial year, which had already shown an extremely positive trend.

All economic targets in terms of revenues and profitability in the 2014 Budget were amply surpassed. Another important goal reached was the consolidation of SIA’s international growth strategy, also through the development of the most important pan-European technology infrastructure for retail payments in Euro, which processes SEPA credit transfers in Italy, Finland, Ireland, Luxemburg and recently Germany too, in addition to the cross-border payments of all the major European commercial banks.

“In a context marked by the consolidation of payment systems in Europe, the results of 2014 have demonstrated how SIA has pursued the primary objective of overseas growth in a sector that is highly innovative and characterized by fierce competitive pressure. Our approach to the market has been rewarded thanks to the high level of reliability and security of the services provided to the customers”, commented Massimo Arrighetti, CEO of SIA.

The positioning of SIA Group
During 2014, SIA Group confirmed its position as a leading operator in the supply of technology services of absolute reliability to Banks, Businesses, Public Administration Bodies, Central Institutions and Financial Intermediaries, in the areas of payments, e-money, connectivity and capital markets. The geographic coverage of the services provided by SIA Group currently extends to over 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

In particular during 2014, the Group confirmed its leading role in the Single Euro Payments Area in the light of the definitive migration of credit transfers and direct debitsfers and direct debits to the SEPA standards.

In terms of innovation, after designing and creating an interoperable hub for payments using mobile phones equipped with NFC technology (excluding Apple which still today has not released its technical specifications) and contributing to the launch of mobile payment initiatives with Italian banks and telecom operators, SIA presented an innovative service for “Person to Person” (P2P) payments, called “Jiffy”, which through an App that works on all Smartphones, allows money to be sent and received in real time from the user’s phone to their contacts.
Thanks to this new application based on SEPA credit transfer, SIA is first in Europe to launch a service open to all the banks operating in the Single Euro Payments Area, that can potentially be used by over 400 million European current account holders, and which combines the simplicity of a messaging system with the security of the interbank systems.

During the financial year, the acquisition was finalized of 68.6% of SIA by the consortium made up of Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI), F2i SGR and Orizzonte SGR. Through their investment, FSI, F2i and Orizzonte have the goal of further reinforcing SIA’s international positioning, fostering its growth organically and through M&A activities, and ensuring that the company plays a leading role in the digitalization of Italy’s Public Sector, guarantees its presence in key services for financial intermediaries and central banks, strengthens the strategic partnership with Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange for the MTS and Monte Titoli platforms, and acts as sector aggregator and promoter of the spread of electronic money in Italy.

Full figures available here.