Bank of Cyprus UK selected the solution as part of its drive to remain at the forefront of the ever-changing market and deliver value-add services to its customer base. 

Albany Software's solution integrates with the bank's existing systems and applications, streamlining entire payments, collections and administration processes; a critical requirement for Bank of Cyprus UK that processes an average of £1 million worth of Bacs transactions every day.

Kyri Voskou, Systems Supervisor at Bank of Cyprus UK, comments, "In today's economy it is vital that organisations invest in innovative technology to drive the business forward. At the Bank of Cyprus UK we strongly believe that purchasing the right technology, like the Albany Software automated payments and collections solution, offers us long-term benefits and delivers real return on investment. The solution fits well with our other recent initiatives including desktop video conferencing, digipass access to online services, SMS alerts to customers, as well as being one of the first banks in the UK to adopt IP telephony."

Voskou continues, "It is important that Bank of Cyprus UK processes payments reliably and efficiently to ensure continued delivery of a high quality service to new and existing customers. Whilst we recognise that there are many electronic payment methods available, like SWIFT, these types of payments incur high costs and are not suitable for regular submissions. Conversely, the Albany Software solution is straightforward and cost-effective, ideal for the Bank's daily electronic funds transfer requirements."

Voskou explains, "The Albany Software solution makes the entire funds submission and collection process more efficient and can deal effectively with the Bank's high volume of funds transactions. In addition, the solution will provide us with a comprehensive reporting facility, multi-user access and hierarchical permissions structure delivering excellent levels of control, security and visibility to the bank."

Voskou adds, "Another driving factor for selecting Albany Software is their hosted contingency service, which serves as a Disaster Recovery solution if the need arises. Like the Albany Software solution itself, the bureau service is easy to use, provides peace of mind and ensures high-level security with the guarantee of business continuity should a disaster occur."

The product seamlessly integrates with the UK clearing settlement mechanism. Importantly, this allows the Bank to provide future-proof payments management, allowing them to be flexible to the increasing demands for their service. Voskou concludes, "With the Albany Software solution we can assure delivery of a high quality service to our customers, and as the market grows and submission requirements increase, Albany Software's payment solution allows Bank of Cyprus UK to maintain complete control and visibility over our Bacs payments."