EBA Clearing

Last updated
EBA Clearing S.A.S
Company type Société par actions simplifiée
Industry Finance
FoundedJune 1998 (1998-06)
Founder Euro Banking Association
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Products Clearing House, Payment service provider, Payment systems
Owner53 major European payment banks [1]
Website www.ebaclearing.eu

EBA Clearing is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure wholly owned by shareholders that consist of major European banks.

Contents

It owns and operates major payment infrastructure in Europe for Euro payments between banks. This includes EURO1 for high value payments system, STEP1, a payment system for single euro payments for small and medium-sized banks, and STEP2, a pan-European automated clearing house (PE-ACH). It also operates the RT1 system for instant payments launched in November 2017. [2] [3] [4] Both EURO1 and STEP2 have been identified as Systemically Important Payment Systems (SIPS) by the European Central Bank. [5]

The organisation is based in Paris and has representative offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London and Milan.

History

EBA Clearing was founded in June 1998 by the Euro Banking Association (EBA) and is owned by the major payment banks operating in Europe. [6] [7]

Its initial mission was to create and operate the clearing and settlement system for high-value euro transactions, EURO1, which the EBA had transferred to EBA Clearing at the launch of the Eurosystem in 1999. Besides EURO1, EBA Clearing also owns and operates STEP1, a payment system for single euro payments for small and medium-sized banks, and STEP2, a pan-European automated clearing house (PE-ACH) for Euro-denominated retail payments. In March 2013, EBA Clearing launched MyBank, an e-authorisation solution for online payments, which is geared at facilitating the growth of e-commerce across Europe. [6]

In 2016, banks from nine countries agreed to create RT1, EBA Clearing's pan-European infrastructure for instant payments in Euro, The system went live in November 2017. [8] [9]

Payment systems

EURO1

EURO1 is a RTGS-equivalent large-value payment system that settles single Euro transactions of high priority and urgency, and primarily of large amount. EURO1 operates on a multilateral net basis, meaning that it continuously adjusts the accounts of the participant banks as they make payments for each other's customers. Payments are settled in real time with finality. EURO1 [10] The system is owned and operated by EBA Clearing. It is open to banks that have a registered address or branch in the European Union and fulfil a number of additional requirements. EURO1 is subject to German law (current account principle/single obligation structure) and is based on a messaging and IT infrastructure provided by SWIFT.

STEP1

Since 2000, EBA Clearing has been offering a payment service named STEP1 [11] for small and medium-sized banks for single euro payments of high priority and urgency. The technical infrastructure is the same as that of the EURO1 system, both use the messaging and IT infrastructure of SWIFT.

STEP2

STEP2 was put into operation in 2003 with Italian payment system provider SIA S.p.A. It processes mass payments in euros. STEP2 is a pan-European automated clearing house (PE-ACH). [12] This means that it complies with the principles set by the European Payments Council (EPC) for a PE-ACH Compliant Clearing and Settlement System.

From the beginning of Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) on 28 January 2008, STEP2 has been offering SEPA Credit Transfer processing services across all SEPA countries. [13]

Since 2 November 2009, the transposition date of the Payment Services Directive, EBA Clearing has been processing SEPA Direct Debits with its STEP2 SDD Core [14] and STEP2 SEPA Direct Debit ("Business to Business") [15] services.

Through its SEPA Credit Transfer and Direct Debit offerings, STEP2 provides banks across Europe with one channel through which they can send and receive their SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Direct Debits. [16] The STEP2 platform reaches nearly 100 percent of all banks that have signed the SCT and SDD Scheme Adherence Agreements of the European Payments Council (EPC).

MyBank

MyBank is a pan-European e-authorisation and Online Banking ePayments that was launched in March 2013 by EBA Clearing. The solution enables customers across Europe to pay for their online purchases via their regular online or mobile banking environment without having to disclose confidential data to the merchant or other third parties. The solution can be used for authorising SEPA Credit Transfers as well as the creation of SDD mandates. At a later stage, MyBank may also be used for transactions in currencies other than euro or for e-identity services.

Today, MyBank is owned and managed by PRETA S.A.S., a wholly owned subsidiary of EBA Clearing. [17]

RT1

RT1 is a pan-European instant payment system that provides the European payments industry with a pan-European infrastructure platform for real-time payments in euro under the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme. Launched on 21 November 2017, the RT1 fast payment system allows commercial banks to offer fast payments through this system to their customers throughout the Eurozone. [18]


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ACH Network</span> United States automated clearing house

In the United States, the ACH Network is the national automated clearing house (ACH) for electronic funds transfers established in the 1960s and 1970s. It processes financial transactions for consumers, businesses, and federal, state, and local governments. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches. ACH credit transfers include direct deposit for payroll, Social Security and other benefit payments, tax refunds, and vendor payments. ACH direct debit transfers include consumer payments on insurance premiums, mortgage loans, and other kinds of bills.

Cheque clearing or bank clearance is the process of moving cash from the bank on which a cheque is drawn to the bank in which it was deposited, usually accompanied by the movement of the cheque to the paying bank, either in the traditional physical paper form or digitally under a cheque truncation system. This process is called the clearing cycle and normally results in a credit to the account at the bank of deposit, and an equivalent debit to the account at the bank on which it was drawn, with a corresponding adjustment of accounts of the banks themselves. If there are not enough funds in the account when the cheque arrived at the issuing bank, the cheque would be returned as a dishonoured cheque marked as non-sufficient funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wire transfer</span> Electronic funds transfer

Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giro (banking)</span> Payment transfer from one bank account to another bank account and initiated by the payer

A giro transfer, often shortened to giro, is a payment transfer from one current bank account to another bank account and initiated by the payer, not the payee. The debit card has a similar model. Giros are primarily used in Europe; although electronic payment systems exist in the United States, it is not possible to perform third-party transfers with them. In the European Union, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) allows electronic giro or debit card payments in euros to be executed to any euro bank account in the area.

In banking and finance, clearing denotes all activities from the time a commitment is made for a transaction until it is settled. This process turns the promise of payment into the actual movement of money from one account to another. Clearing houses were formed to facilitate such transactions among banks.

A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, payment instruments such as payment cards, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that make its exchange possible. A payment system is an operational network which links bank accounts and provides for monetary exchange using bank deposits. Some payment systems also include credit mechanisms, which are essentially a different aspect of payment.

A direct debit or direct withdrawal is a financial transaction in which one organisation withdraws funds from a payer's bank account. Formally, the organisation that calls for the funds instructs their bank to collect an amount directly from another's bank account designated by the payer and pay those funds into a bank account designated by the payee. Before the payer's banker will allow the transaction to take place, the payer must have advised the bank that they have authorized the payee to directly draw the funds. It is also called pre-authorized debit (PAD) or pre-authorized payment (PAP). After the authorities are set up, the direct debit transactions are usually processed electronically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic funds transfer</span> Electronic transfer of money from one bank account to another

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the electronic transfer of money from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, via computer-based systems, without the direct intervention of bank staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single Euro Payments Area</span> System for money transfers within the European Union area

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in Euros. As of 2020, there were 36 members in SEPA, consisting of the 27 member states of the European Union, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association, and the United Kingdom. Some microstates participate in the technical schemes: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City.

A pan-European automated clearing house (PE-ACH) is a clearing house that is able to settle SEPA compliant credit transfers and direct debits across the Eurozone.

The Euro Banking Association (EBA) is an industry forum for the European payments industry with close to 200 member banks and organisations from the European Union and around the world aimed at fostering and driving pan-European payment initiatives. Through its industry initiatives and the euro payment systems it has delivered, the EBA is a key contributor to the creation of a standardised Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

The Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2, Directive (EU) 2015/2366, which replaced the Payment Services Directive (PSD), Directive 2007/64/EC) is an EU Directive, administered by the European Commission (Directorate General Internal Market) to regulate payment services and payment service providers throughout the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). The PSD's purpose was to increase pan-European competition and participation in the payments industry also from non-banks, and to provide for a level playing field by harmonizing consumer protection and the rights and obligations of payment providers and users. The key objectives of the PSD2 directive are creating a more integrated European payments market, making payments more secure and protecting consumers.

The Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes (EAPS) was an international alliance of European bank and interbank networks that had aimed to creating a pan-European debit card system in the Single Euro Payments Area to rival Visa and Mastercard using existing country specific systems. It was launched in 2007 with the support of the European Union but failed and was abandoned sometime after 2013.

The Irish Payment Services Organisation Limited (IPSO) was established in June 1997. IPSO was a company limited by guarantee owned by its member banks.

Payments as a service (PaaS) is a marketing phrase used to describe a software as a service to connect a group of international payment systems. The architecture is represented by a layer – or overlay – that resides on top of these disparate systems and provides for two-way communications between the payment system and the PaaS. Communication is governed by standard APIs created by the PaaS provider.

Vocalink is a payment systems company headquartered in the United Kingdom, created in 2007 from the merger between Voca and LINK. It designs, builds and operates the UK payments infrastructure, which underpins the provision of the Bacs payment system and the UK ATM LINK switching platform covering 65,000 ATMs and the UK Faster Payments systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SIA S.p.A.</span>

SIA S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the area of ICT, providing services to the banking and finance sector in addition to platforms for financial markets and e-payment services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automated clearing house</span> Type of electronic network for financial transactions

An automated clearing house (ACH) is a computer-based electronic network for processing transactions, usually domestic low value payments, between participating financial institutions. It may support both credit transfers and direct debits. The ACH system is designed to process batches of payments containing numerous transactions, and it charges fees low enough to encourage its use for low value payments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TBB pank</span> Company based in Estonia

TBB pank is an Estonian commercial bank which headquarters are located in Tallinn, Estonia. One office is located in Narva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Payments Initiative</span> Pan-European payment system

The European Payments Initiative (EPI), previously known as the Pan-European Payments System Initiative (PEPSI), is a European Central Bank-backed payment-integration initiative aiming to create a pan-European payment system and interbank network to rival Mastercard and Visa, and eventually replace national European payment schemes such as France's Carte Bancaire and Germany's Girocard.

References

  1. ↑ "Shareholder banks". EBA Clearing.
  2. ↑ "SwiftNet Instant to provide access to EBA Clearing's RT1 system". FinExtra. October 20, 2017.
  3. ↑ Long, Kimberley (July 28, 2016). "Competition questions arise over MasterCard's VocaLink buy-out". Euromoney.
  4. ↑ "Echtzeitzahlungen ab November 2018: SWIFTNet Instant gibt Zugang zum RT1-System von EBA Clearing" [Real-time payments in November 2018: SWIFTNet Instant gives access to EBA Clearing's RT1 system]. IT Finanzmagazin. 11 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "ECB identifies systemically important payments systems". European Central Bank. 21 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 "About EBA CLEARING". www.ebaclearing.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  7. ↑ "EBA Clearing, Irish Payment Services Organisation launch STEP2 Irish service". ThePaypers. October 12, 2011.
  8. ↑ "EBA Clearing joined by coalition of banks for instant payments". IBS Intelligence. October 11, 2017. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Instant payments in Europe: moving from theory to practice". Banking Technology. 17 October 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "EURO1". www.ebaclearing.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  11. ↑ "STEP1". www.ebaclearing.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  12. ↑ "STEP2-T Platform". www.ebaclearing.eu. Archived from the original on 2017-09-16. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  13. ↑ "SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) Service". www.ebaclearing.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  14. ↑ "STEP2 SDD Core Service". www.ebaclearing.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  15. ↑ "SEPA Direct Debit ("Business to Business") Service". www.ebaclearing.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  16. ↑ Golden, Paul (April 23, 2015). "Cash management debate: SEPA: A new model for Europe?". Euromoney.
  17. ↑ "PRETA Sas - MyBank". www.mybank.eu. Archived from the original on 2017-01-06. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  18. ↑ Kantsans, Yuri (28 October 2017). "Банк Латвии готовится к введению молниеносных платежей в европейском масштабе" [The Bank of Latvia is preparing to introduce lightning-fast payments on a European scale]. baltnews.lv. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.