VocaLink and STET Broaden Their Reach Across the Eurozone With new Interoperability Agreement

HONG KONG - VocaLink and STET, the international payments specialists, today confirmed that they are working together to establish a bilateral link for the exchange of SEPA payments based on the EACHA interoperability standards.

The provision of reciprocal interconnection services between VocaLink’s and STET’s respective clearing and settlement mechanisms will allow the two organisations to mutually exchange SEPA compliant payment messages on behalf of their respective clients. The agreement will further enhance their reach within the SEPA Eurozone.

The bilateral link will enable the simple and efficient exchange of SEPA payments between participants in the respective CSM communities. This link will provide banks of each community with a fast, cost-effective and low-risk method of achieving reach with the banks of other communities.

VocaLink and STET plan to have the connectivity operational for SEPA Credit Transfers by the end of 2009 with an intention to extend the agreement to include SEPA Direct Debits.

José Beltrán, Director for SEPA at STET, comments: “In line with Euro system expectations, our interconnection agreement with VocaLink is part of our mutual endeavour to build SEPA reach for banks.”

Martin Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer at VocaLink, adds: “Through this new partnership with STET we are continuing our mission to grow our Euro CSM reach to benefit the banks and their customers. This agreement provides additional options to banks working with either party.

The VocaLink Euro CSM was established in July 2007 to process SEPA transactions from January 2008 onwards and offer other payment services. It is providing SEPA Credit Transfers, SEPA Direct Debit transactions as well as a suite of value-added services including payment capture and mandate management.

The new STET system CORE went live in 2008 and operates as a central hub with continuous straight through real time processing. The system is SEPA compliant for both SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Direct Debits.

About VocaLink

VocaLink is a specialist provider of payments 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 STET

STET is a leading provider of infrastructure services to the European payment industry. STET processes all payment instruments including cards, ATMs, credit transfers, direct debits and cheques. On a peak day the STET new generation CORE platform processes over 120 million payments for a total annual volume in excess of 13 billion payments. As a Systemically Important Payment System (SIPS) under euro system criteria, STET operates under central bank oversight and complies with the core principles set by the BIS and Eurosystem for SIPS.

Source: VocaLink and STET

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