A pioneering approach to access has seen Turkish Bank become the 18th and latest member of Bacs Payment Schemes Ltd (Bacs), the company behind Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit.
This new access solution is available to other smaller payment service providers (PSPs), allowing those with low transaction volumes simplified connectivity to these major payment schemes.
Michael Chambers, chief executive officer of Bacs, said: "We’re very pleased to have developed a solution to help smaller PSPs in the UK access our schemes. We worked closely with Turkish Bank to get this right, and it’s great to now have them on board as the newest member of Bacs, adding to the diversity of our participants.
“Our payments remain extremely popular - we recorded a high of more than six billion transactions in 2016 - and it’s important that we accommodate members of all sizes, encouraging and enabling access to our payment options whatever the size of the PSP.”
Bacs’ annual record of almost six and a quarter billion transactions was worth a total of £4.8 trillion; 2016 also saw a new high of 109.3 million Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits transactions in a single day - that’s around 117,000 payments processed every minute.
Turkish Bank operates primarily in London as well as in Turkey and Northern Cyprus .The bank was established in London in 1974 and provides retail and commercial banking services to the Turkish speaking community.
David Stewart, Turkish Bank Managing Director, said “Since 2016, Turkish Bank has worked very closely with Bacs, whose support was very valuable in ensuring a smooth and successful transition from an agency member to membership in our own right. We hope that our joining will encourage banks of all sizes. This has been a very significant piece of work and clearly demonstrates our determination and desire to offer our customers the most direct access route to Bacs.
“The project was accomplished on schedule and is part of our programme to become direct members of the prime UK payments schemes. Completing this major task demonstrates our commitment to infrastructure investments and highlights our determination to seek long term growth in the UK market.”