Spanish banking association Centro de Cooperation Interbancaria (CCI) Madrid has signed a memorandum of undestanding (MOU) with EBA Clearing to explore ways of using the Step2 pan-European ACH platform for the processing of domestic payments.
CCI says it will set up a working group to explore the possibility of migrating the Spanish domestic payments system to Step2.
The system, which was developed by Italy's Società Interbancaria per l'Automazione (SIA), is the first pan-European clearing system for bulk payments in euros.
Eutimio Morales, president of CCI, says: "Using a pan-European infrastructure means avoiding a duplication of investments, reducing operating costs and taking full advantage of the latest technology available."
EBA says the discussions with CCI are part of on-going work to get more countries in the EU to switch to the Step2 platform. The Italian Banking Association set up a working group in 2003 to examine the possibility of migrating domestic payments onto the Step2 system.
Currently 87 direct participants and more than 1400 indirect participants send on average 150,000 transactions per day through the system.