Two more European banks, Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen, Vienna and Baden-Wurttembergische Bank, Stuttgart have signed up to the Euro Banking Association's (EBA) Euro1 cross-border payments system, bringing the total number of direct participants to 73.
In addition Allied Irish Banks GB, London; First Trust Bank, Belfast and ING France, Paris have joined as sub-participants. There are now 25 bank subsidiaries connected to Euro1 as sub-participants, which enables them to send and receive payments directly in Euro1.
Twenty new members have joined the company's low-value payment system, Step1, bringing the total number of banks accessing the system to 163.
The new banks are Allgemeine Sparkasse Oberoesterreich, Austria; Bank fuer Kaernten und Steiermark, Austria; Dornbirner Sparkasse, Austria; Hypo-Alpe-Adria Bank, Austria; Bank Styria, Austria; Artesia Banking Corporation, Belgium; Amtssparekassen, Denmark; Spar Nord Bank, Denmark; Banque Michel Inchauspe-BAMI, France; Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa, Italy; Banca Monte Parma, Italy; Banca Popolare di Ancona, Italy; Banca Popolare di Bergamo-Credito Varesino, Italy; Banca Popolare di Lodi, Italy; Banca Sella, Italy; Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, Italy; ICCREA Bank, Italy; Banco Zaragozano, Spain; Caixa Catalunya, Spain; Caja Gipuzkoa, Spain.
Willy Scheerlinck, chairman, EBA Clearing comments: "Current membership is set to further expand early next year, since many banks have already expressed a firm interest in joining one of the systems, but are waiting until after the introduction of euro notes and coins before doing so."