VocaLink, KIR S.A. launch SEPA Credit Transfer service between Poland and the UK

This agreement is based on the European Automated Clearing House Association (EACHA) interoperability standards.

The reciprocal link, which has gone live on 11 April 2011, enables VocaLink and KIR S.A. to exchange SEPA-compliant payment messages on behalf of their respective clients, thereby increasing both organisations reach within the SEPA Eurozone.

The EACHA framework enables the 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 S.A. can make payments on a same-day basis.

KIR S.A. and VocaLink estimate that the number of payments that will be sent and received via the link will grow every year, demonstrating its customers’ active participation in the Eurozone transfers.

VocaLink is a specialist payments partner to banks, their corporate customers and government departments, focused on the development of domestic and international automated payments systems and ATM switching solutions. The company’s switching platform connects over 60,000 ATMs while the VocaLink payments platform processes over 500 million payments on a monthly basis.

Through ELIXIR and EuroELIXIR systems, KIR S.A. processes over 1.3 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.