UPSS now offers a cost-effective managed service for banks to comply with upcoming direct debit mandate and credit/debit regulations resulting from the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) initiatives.

SEPA is a set of pending regulations from the European Community aimed at fostering one common Euro payment system. Among the intended benefits is that bank customers can make non-cash payments to any beneficiary in the Euro area, regardless of location. They can do so using a single bank account and a single set of payment instruments, at a standard fee. For most banks, such changes will require significant technology modifications and impose data management challenges. Those include complexities in maintaining multiple systems to enable compliance with SEPA security mandates in direct debit transactions.

The Unisys payments utility provides a secure, efficient way for SEPA-compliant direct debit processing by confirming the transactions against a central repository of mandates, then digitally securing the transaction before routing it to creditor bank's processing system. Digital signatures and encryption help ensure that the transaction is valid. By using UPSS services, banks and their corporate clients can avoid the higher cost of implementing and operating in-house SEPA solutions.

As UPSS expands its base into Europe, some of Europe's top financial institutions are already benefiting from the efficiencies UPSS offers in document processing and other administrative payment services, including the new SEPA solutions.

"With our new services, Unisys helps European banks transform their payments operations across their entire enterprises to maximize revenue opportunities," said Rob Fopma, managing director of UPSS. "From SEPA and other pan-European banking initiatives to day-to-day payments processing, UPSS serves as a strategic partner in helping our customers manage their business effectively. It allows European banks to minimize technology investments for compliance, giving them the flexibility to adapt to other industry and market changes"

The new SEPA services at UPSS are part of family of Unisys enterprise payment solutions. Unisys also offers payment solutions on the Unisys SOA-based Open Payment Platform, remote capture devices and a companion web-based processing environment; enterprise servers; and BPO services in check and remittance processing, imaging and epayments.