Deutsche Bank, Logica Forge Strategic Alliance

Deutsche Bank’s global transaction banking division and Logica, an IT and business services company, have entered an alliance to launch an outsourced solution for SEPA Direct Debits, which can be used for collections throughout 31 nations.

 

Logica officials while said that Deutsche Bank, powered by the company’s “All Payments Solution,” will combine a new SEPA Connector to provide financial institution clients with low-cost, “plug and play” SEPA functionality.

 

The SEPA Connector will initially be targeted at debtor banks requiring a solution for complying with mandatory SDD reachability requirements (in preparation for a November 2010 deadline), and also supports SEPA Credit Transfers.

 

Launched last January, the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme enables payment services providers to offer a core and basic credit transfer service throughout SEPA, whether for single or bulk payments.

 

In the first phase of this partnership, the SEPA Connector will enable debtor banks to view SDD transactions, manage rejects and returns, as well as upload files for further validation and processing. Deutsche Bank will also provide connectivity to EBA Clearing and its bilateral partners.

 

“Attaining SEPA reachability and complying with SEPA Direct Debits places further strain on legacy technology for many banks. Through our partnership with Logica, we can provide our financial institution clients with access to SEPA clearing services based on best of breed technology”, said Michael Mueller, managing director of wholesale solutions, Global Transaction Banking at Deutsche Bank.

 

Mueller said that the SEPA Connector forms an integral part of the bank’s strategy for expanding the provision of outsourced services, while also presenting a strong business case for banks.

 

According to Nigel Turner, Business Development Director, Payments at Logica, the parallels between Deutsche Bank and Logica in terms of SEPA progression make the partnership a powerful move.

 

“With regulatory pressure mounting and the business drivers becoming more apparent, the attraction of outsourced SEPA services will increase,” Turner said. “The SEPA Connector enables banks to achieve SEPA reachability without having to make immediate major investment in infrastructure – giving them more time to plan for payments transformation.”

 

Turner said that having achieved economies of scope and scale, Deutsche Bank is well-positioned to deliver this service using the company’s high volume payments hub, which has the necessary flexibility to support outsource models.