Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of VocaLink
LONDON, September 11 /PRNewswire/ — VocaLink, the payment transaction specialist, today published research showing that eight months after the introduction of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) more than three out of ten businesses have had no experience of it. SEPA came into effect in January 2008 and SEPA Credit Transfers have been processed since the first day. Yet the survey of corporate treasurers commissioned by VocaLink found that 35% have had no experience of SEPA. The next stage in the evolution of SEPA is the introduction of SEPA direct debit (SDD) but the survey also shows that 36% of corporate treasurers do not expect to implement SDD until 2011 or later. Only 28% of respondents expect to use SDD by the end of 2009. Paul Taylor, managing director for Europe at VocaLink, comments: “Our research shows that there is a huge opportunity for banks who take an early lead in the market, especially for SEPA direct debit (SDD) services. The trick is to make it attractive to those customers. Working with banks in this space, VocaLink has developed a range of value-added services, such as payments capture and mandate management, to enable banks to make SDD attractive to their clients. Deploying these services offers banks a great opportunity to provide competitive SDD-enabled services to corporate customers ahead of the market and to win new market share.” Other findings of the research reveal that corporate treasurers want more real-time payment information, which in turn leads to more comprehensive reporting and reconciliation, and consider a single bank relationship as being most beneficial for their business. Paul Taylor adds: “Addressing real time requirements from clients is an ever-increasing issue for the banks that we work with. In response to this market demand, we have developed the VocaLink Real-Time Payments Platform on behalf of major banks around the world and offer services which meet the needs of banks’ corporate customers.” The survey ‘Meeting the transaction needs of corporates’ was conducted in June 2008 by gtnews.com and commissioned by VocaLink. 77% of the respondents are in executive or management positions, and the largest response came from corporates with revenues over $1bn. VocaLink is using the findings of the research to continue to provide its clients with services that support corporate customers’ specific needs. Notes to Editors About VocaLink VocaLink is a specialist provider of transaction services to banks, their corporate customers and Government departments. It processes domestic and international automated payments and provides ATM switching solutions. On a peak day, the VocaLink automated payment platform processes over 90 million transactions and over half a billion in a month. Its switching platform connects the world’s busiest ATM network of over 60,000 ATMs. Its Real-Time Payments platform provides the central infrastructure for the UK Faster Payments service. VocaLink is working with BGC to provide outsourced processing for the majority of Sweden’s domestic payments. Having pioneered electronic payments for over four decades, many of the world’s top banks and their corporate customers rely on VocaLink to meet their transaction needs. Its processing services offer banks reach throughout the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and beyond; and are complemented by value-added services that leverage industry expertise and technical capabilities. Please visit http://www.vocalink.com for more information About gtnews 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, gtnews provides treasury professionals around the world with an unparalleled information resource and forum. gtnews is the foremost resource for information relating to the treasury profession. The gtnews.com website contains over 4,000 articles, special reports, guides, surveys, webinars and video interviews, which increases by more than 50 new items each month. Readers are alerted every week of the news through the gtnewsletter, which all 53,000+ registered readers receive. The 53,000+ readership of gtnews constitutes the largest and most comprehensive active network of treasury professionals around the world. The geographic reach encompasses North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and they are drawn from a diverse mix of corporations, banks, central banks, and monetary authorities, financial institutions, consultancies, government departments and academic institutions, as well as information and financial technology providers. The gtnews editorial strategy is driven by a thorough understanding of the needs and interests of treasury professionals, and its contribution based format elicits a high level of content submission from the experienced treasury subscriber base. For further information please contact:
Gerald Cross at the JJ Group +44(0)1865-343100 or vocalink@thejjgroup.com
Kevin Monks at VocaLink +44(0)870-920-8574 or kevin.monks@vocalink.com
Deborah Souter at VocaLink +44(0)870-920-8651 or deborah.souter@vocalink.com
