Dutch banking group ING and European IT
services firm Atos Origin are teaming up to provide end-to-end
SEPA-compliant payment processing services to banks and
corporations in Europe.
Under the deal, Atos Origin will provide
business and technology services, while ING will deliver payment
processing services compliant with the latest EU regulations. Both
organisations said the deal marked the first time an IT services
provider and a bank have partnered in this domain in Europe.
The new venture will allow customers to benefit
from a white label payments processing service provided by ING as
well as Atos Origin’s IT change and integration services.
Associated banks will handle their payment transactions as if they
were processed on customers’ own systems under their own logo, only
using the ING systems in the background. Atos Origin says the
services will help firms comply with SEPA and the EC’s Payment
Services Directive (PSD), without having to re-engineer their
underlying IT systems. For corporations, the offering includes the
establishment of a single, centralised in-house banking solution,
resulting in a simplified handling of payments at lower cost,
according to Atos.
Explaining the rationale for the venture, both
organisations said that international corporations traditionally
process their transactions and internal money transfers through
local banks. This ‘local-for-local’ situation requires them to
maintain sufficient capital on their balances in the various
countries. In the new SEPA environment, a single account can be
used to handle all payments. This enhances transparency and
simplifies cash flows, resulting in less working capital, lower
capital cost and improved cash and treasury management. By
supporting these corporations with an in-house bank in the required
organisational and IT changes, the alliance will help corporations
achieve significant cost reduction.
“Partnering with ING offers a unique
one-stop-shop offer to both banks and corporations in which
economies of scale, speed and the ability to execute are
paramount,” said Rob Pols, CEO of Atos Origin in the
Netherlands.