For immediate release:

Six major ACHs join SWIFT SEPA Testing

ACHs recommend European banks participate in SWIFT programme

BRUSSELS, 6 June 2007 — SWIFT announced today that six Automated Clearing Houses (ACHs) processing the majority of retail payments in Europe will test compliance with SEPA standards using the SWIFT Testing Programme.  ACHs are also encouraging their clients, the major banks across Europe, to join the one-time testing programme as part of their operational readiness assessment.  More than 130 financial institutions have registered to date.

Dias (Greece), Equens (The Netherlands, Germany), IberPay (Spain), Seceti (Italy), SIBS (Portugal) and STET (France) will process SEPA compliant payments from 1 January 2008. Their participation in the SWIFT SEPA Testing Programme is designed to confirm the infrastructure in place is compliant with SEPA standards and to foster a smooth migration for their bank customers.  Banks participating will receive a SEPA standards compliance label upon successful completion of the Programme.

The SEPA Testing Programme is managed by SWIFT, a neutral third party in the international payments community and designed in close coordination with the European Payments Council (EPC). It also meets calls from regulatory authorities for SEPA compliance of ACHs.

The participation of ACHs in the SEPA Testing Programme will:
  • encourage clearing and settlement infrastructures and their banks to strictly comply with core mandatory SEPA standards defined by the European Payments Council (EPC);
  • foster interoperability and switchability across Europe by preventing the emergence of variances to the SEPA ISO 20022 standard;
  • contribute to smoother implementation and faster migration to SEPA;
  • spread investment costs and effort amongst stakeholders by avoiding development of bespoke testing tools and cases.

Michael Steinbach, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Equens, said, “By participating in this Testing Programme, Equens, together with other important market infrastructures, has the means to demonstrate its full compliance with the new SEPA formats and its capability to serve its clients across borders with the efficiency, transparency and reach they will expect.”

Jad Khallouf, CEO STET and Chairman, EACHA, added, “A single and independent testing of compliance is in the interest of all market participants. As the successor of the largest ACH in Europe, STET, like EACHA, is committed to the success of SEPA and believes that this Testing Programme will play a positive role in ensuring that an interoperable processing landscape emerges in Europe.”

“Using SWIFT’s SEPA Testing Programme as an integral component of their operational readiness assessment will help SECETI banks sign the Adherence Agreement with the EPC with confidence,” added Giuseppe Capponcelli, General Manager of SECETI.

The SEPA Testing Programme will go live on 2 July 2007. Online registration is available on www.swift.com.

Note to Editors:

About SWIFT
SWIFT is the industry-owned co-operative supplying secure, standardised messaging services and interface software to nearly 8,100 financial institutions in 207 countries and territories. SWIFT members include banks, broker-dealers and investment managers. The broader SWIFT community also encompasses corporates as well as market infrastructures in payments, securities, treasury and trade. Over the past ten years, SWIFT message prices have been reduced over 80%, and system availability approaches 5x9 reliability — 99.999% of uptime.

For more information about this press release, please refer to www.swift.com or contact the SWIFT press office:

Kara Condon
SWIFT
Tel: +32 2 655 3740
Email: kara.condon@swift.com