VocaLink and KIR Announce Interoperability Agreement for SEPA Credit Transfers

LONDON - VocaLink, the international payments specialist, today announced that it is working with KIR (Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa S.A.), the national clearing house for Poland, to establish a bilateral link for the exchange of SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) payments based on the EACHA interoperability standards.

The provision of reciprocal interconnection services between VocaLink’s and KIR’s respective Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms allows the two organisations to mutually exchange SEPA compliant payment messages on behalf of their respective clients. The agreement will further enhance VocaLink’s and KIR’s reach within the SEPA Eurozone.

Although Poland is not currently a member of the Euro zone, KIR has seen the number of transactions in the EuroELIXIR system, which provides services to banks active in Poland for SEPA Credit Transfers, increase significantly in recent months.

Michal Szymanski, Vice President of KIR S.A., comments: “The ability to directly exchange payments with leading European payment processors within the EACHA framework will enable us to reduce processing costs and speed up the cross system message flow at the same time. We are continually improving our SEPA product portfolio and so establishing an EACHA link with VocaLink was a natural step forward for us.”

Martin Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer at VocaLink, adds: “The bilateral interoperability agreement with KIR will enable the simple and efficient exchange of SEPA Credit Transfer payments between CSM communities. As a result, the banks of one community will receive a fast, cost-effective and low risk method of achieving reach with the banks of other communities.”

The interoperability goal outlined by the EACHA framework fully supports the aims of SEPA and enables the simple and efficient exchange of SEPA payments between CSMs, banks and their customers. As both CSMs have more than one settlement cycle per day, customers of VocaLink and

KIR will be able to make payments on a same day basis.

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 (Bankgirocentralen) to provide outsourced processing for the majority of Sweden’s domestic payments.

About KIR

Through ELIXIR(R) and EuroELIXIR systems, KIR S.A. processes over 1 billion non-cash payment transactions annually. With the introduction of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA), a link between EuroELIXIR and STEP2 platforms has been created, guaranteeing the participants pan-European payment addressability. Since June 2009 the settlement of EuroELIXIR system takes place on TARGET2 system platform.

KIR S.A. is intensively broadening the product portfolio aiming at diversification outside narrow interbank payment processing. It is active in many markets including electronic signature (under the SZAFIR brand), electronic content management (eArchiwum), EBPP (B2C solution with presentation in banking channels) and internet payments (PayByNet). KIR S.A. is also offering access to WIFTNet network as a Service Bureau and a broad portfolio of professional training services.

Source: VocaLink

For further information, please contact: Scott McLean, Hotwire, +44(0)20-7608-2500 or vocalinkuk at hotwirepr.com or Deborah Souter, VocaLink Limited, +44(0)870-920-8651 or deborah.souter at VocaLink.com