Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of AT&T (NYSE:T), today announced that Equens, one of the largest payment processors in Europe, has implemented Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway to consolidate its payments and data exchange through a single gateway.
This implementation is in line with Equens' strategy to position itself as a full service pan-European payment processor, ready for the implementation of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) from 1st January 2008.
Established through the merger of the Dutch Interpay and the German Transaktionsinstitut, Equens is the first truly pan-European full-service payment processor. With a combined annual volume of seven billion transactions and a market share within the Eurozone of well over ten per cent, Equens is one of the largest payments processors in Europe.
Equens has implemented Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway to enable it to accept 'any-to-any' payments. Formerly, Equens' IT systems in the Netherlands comprised a mainframe environment working alongside a range of proprietary solutions. Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway provides Equens with a single transformation and routing mechanism to accept payments from its customers using multiple industry standards such as FTPS, HTTPS, Connect:Direct and SWIFTNet FileAct. Moreover, it provides cost effective, secure internet data transfer using industry-leading client certification and authentication routines.
Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway will enable Equens to meet current customer connectivity demands. As a result of the SOA-based architecture and scalability of the solution, future growth will be supported without the need for significant re-engineering of the solution. Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway intelligent routing services also will reduce maintenance costs, save staff time and improve customer service by automatically sorting and routing payments according to pre-configured business rules.
Antoon Kuijpers, member of Equens' Board of Directors, said: "As a highly flexible pan-European payment processor, we required a solution that would help us simplify and streamline our existing data transfer solutions. The ability to accept multiple industry standards is essential to accommodate the needs of our banking clients, regardless of the settlement engine, communications standards or process they wish to employ. With this single payments gateway, and our integrated, single payments processing platform ZVS, which is already in place and SEPA-ready, we are able to optimally meet our clients' post-SEPA requirements for the fast and secure transfer of files."
Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway provides automatic notification of exceptions and provides a single 'dashboard' view of all incoming and outgoing payments traffic. It is designed to help meet Service Level Agreements, improve efficiency and ensure robust security. The high availability and flexibility provided by Sterling Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway will give Equens a competitive edge in the post-SEPA landscape and the agility necessary to react quickly to further regulatory requirements and changing market conditions. The solution already delivers cost savings by integrating Equens' existing systems and improving speed and efficiency through the intelligent routing of payments.
Richard Spong, Financial Services Industry Marketing, for Sterling Commerce said: "This is the time for forward-planning institutions not only to meet present obligations for compliance and community connectivity, but also to secure the agility to meet the demands of continuing change. We are delighted to be supporting the innovative objectives of Equens. In Sterling Commerce, Equens has selected a partner that delivers effective products and services to meet financial business process connectivity challenges both now and in the future."