Faster Payments service goes live on VocaLink Real-Time platform

London, 27 May 2008: VocaLink, the payment transaction specialist, announced today that the Faster Payments service has gone live with the first transactions processed successfully this morning. The ground-breaking Faster Payments service is the first application of the VocaLink Real-Time Payments Platform and is generating significant interest from major banks around the world.

The VocaLink Real-Time Payments Platform is unique in facilitating single real-time payments over a variety of channels including mobile, internet, telephone and even payment card. This will enable payments from consumer to consumer, consumer to business, business to consumer and business to business. It is likely to change both the way that people pay and the way they want to be paid. 

Martin Wilson, chief commercial officer at VocaLink said: ‘’ The VocaLink Real-Time Payments Platform is one of the most revolutionary infrastructures the payments industry has seen in recent decades and has the potential to transform consumer banking behaviour and business practice across the globe.’’

VocaLink is already in discussion with banks from around the world which are looking to reduce the cost of their payments infrastructure while simultaneously future-proofing it to cope with increasing demand for more real-time, spontaneous and mobile payment services.

In the UK, Faster Payments was developed in response to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) calling for an alternative to the existing systems. It has been a joint project between VocaLink, as the infrastructure provider, APACS, as the industry body overseeing the development, and the UK banks. The financial institutions involved in delivering the system account for 97% of all payments made. Faster Payments will run alongside existing payment schemes such as Bacs and CHAPS.

‘’The new service far exceeds the original requirements of the OFT’s Payment Systems Task Force.’’ adds Wilson. ‘’This is a payment service that maximises straight through processing and is truly self service, reducing operational cost and improving customer service.’’

VocaLink designed, built and operates two other national payment infrastructures in the UK for the Bacs Scheme (Direct Debit, Bacs Direct Credit and Standing Order), and the ATM network for the LINK scheme. VocaLink also operates a Euro clearing service that processes euro payments to and from anywhere in the world and has recently announced a payments processing outsourcing deal with BGC in Sweden.