After the decision of the Swiss credit services sector for the particularly secure Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard (EBICS), Switzerland opted into the European EBICS community in order to join France and Germany in its further development. Even for other European financial centres, EBICS is currently gaining more acceptance as the payment transaction standard in the corporate client segment.
The EBICS protocol is used by companies as an integral component of their payment systems to process electronic payment transactions. Transactions are typically the issuance of payment instructions or obtaining account statements, status reports and payment advice. Electronic signatures are used for approvals. As a highly available and inexpensive standard, EBICS can handle very large volumes of data quickly and securely.
For companies, the procedure has the advantage that more and more banks across Europe are offering EBICS, which, in addition to the single European payment format SEPA, is prevailing as a congruent transmission protocol.
Already by early 2014, the Luzerner Kantonalbank had opted for PPI's TRAVIC-Corporate system. Other large Swiss banks are showing an increased interest in the system used by market leaders for EBICS solutions. The Zürcher Kantonalbank uses PPI AG's new transmission protocol on the basis of TRAVIC-Corporate. "We are working closely with the bank and providing a bespoke integration solution to the existing banking systems" said Michael Lembke, product manager at PPI, responsible for the integration project of the Zürcher Kantonalbank and RECON.
"The Zürcher Kantonalbank will link the system directly to the central user management, reducing administration costs and optimising the security of the entire system landscape" explains Carsten Miehling, managing director of RECON, the sales partner of PPI AG in Switzerland.
The ZKB has over 97 branches, mainly in the Swiss Canton of Zurich. With assets totalling over 150 billion Swiss francs and employing 5,383 members of staff, it is the largest Cantonal Bank and the fourth largest Swiss bank. In Zurich's economic environment the bank occupies the leading position in the universal banking business with an AAA rating and a comprehensive range of products and services. Its core business practices include financing, investment and asset management, trade and capital market as well as the liabilities, payment transactions and credit/debit card businesses.
Zürcher Kantonalbank
Reto Gubler
Payment Transactions Product Manager
reto.gubler(at)zkb.ch
The software and consultancy company PPI AG is the developer of the electronic banking product suite TRAVIC, market leader in EBICS and specialist in SEPA and ISO20022. RECON is the Swiss sales partner of the TRAVIC product line. As an IT engineering office in the Swiss Canton of Zug, they specialise in formats, standards and processes in electronic payment transactions.
RECON
Carsten Miehling
Gubelstrasse
CH-6305 Zug
miehling(at)recon-is.ch
PPI AG
Dr Hermann Fürstenau
Moorfuhrtweg 13
D-22301 Hamburg
hermann.fuerstenau@ppi.de
