TAS Acquires Newsoft: A New Perspective for Innovation in Southern Italy

TAS announced the full operation of its services as a new Application Center in Italy.

The request by TAS to operate within the SITRAD (System for Telematic Data Transmission) as a standardized Application Center was approved by the CIPA Steering Committee on 24 May 2022.

From the following 1st July, TAS (in collaboration with Nexi Payments) began to provide a wide range of services related to domestic interbank applications through SITRAD, including Interbank Commercial Collections, Check Image Truncation and other fundamental interbank procedures such as Archive Alignment and Transferability, Portfolio Provisions, Transfers between Banks, Free Messages, Documented Operations and Interbank Charges Detection.

Starting from September 2023, TAS (in collaboration with Nexi Payments) has successfully activated the first banking group, Banco BPM, for the Check Image Truncation application, followed in April 2024 by the Crédit Agricole Italia group for the same application, while Banco BPM completed the activation of all services in the same month.

With the full commencement of operations as an Application Centre, TAS continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions in the payments and financial services sector in Italy and beyond.

PierLuigi Bellinazzi, TAS Domestic ACH Manager, comments on this significant achievement: "Since the first days of my work at TAS way back in 1998, I have cultivated the ambition of seeing the company evolve into a Service Centre. Today I am therefore very proud, together with all our colleagues at TAS, to have become part of the small group of Italian Application Centers (Nexi Payments, BCC Sistemi Informatici, equensWorldLine and BANCOMAT). Thanks to our new status as an Application Center, we will be able to offer even more complete and attractive for services for Financial Institutions looking for solid and reliable partnerships in the field of financial operations."

The revolution of Financial Transfers across borders continues for an increasingly digitalized, fair, and efficient Europe.

The recent approval by the European Parliament of new regulations on instant payments marks a new turning point in the payments landscape within the European Union.

The recent provisions, which will come into effect 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU, aim to ensure the promptness of money transfers between consumers' and businesses' accounts, representing a significant step towards greater financial efficiency and security.

With the new rules, all payment service providers must offer customers the possibility to make instant transfers that take no longer than ten seconds from approval, at any time and day. This will result in almost immediate liquidity for individuals and businesses, promising to significantly improve the daily operations of millions of Europeans. Additionally, the costs of instant payments must not exceed those of regular transfers.

The new regulation also outlines an efficient process for handling multiple orders of instant fund transfers sent in bundles to Payment Service Providers (PSPs), with particular attention to businesses in business-to-business (B2B) payments. When a Payment Service User (PSU) sends a package of instant fund transfer orders, the receiving PSP must immediately split the package, turning each order into individual transactions of instant credit transfer.

Furthermore, currently, payment and electronic money institutions are excluded from the definition of "entity" in Directive 98/26/EC, limiting their participation in instant euro transfers. The regulation aims to include them, allowing them to participate in Payment Systems and contribute to the adoption of instant fund transfers.

Another significant aspect of the regulation is the applicability of the new rules even in member countries that do not use the euro as the official currency, provided their bank accounts support regular euro transactions. This will ensure widespread sharing of the benefits of instant payments, further promoting economic integration among EU countries.

The new regulation emphasizes the importance of anti-fraud measures, requiring payment service providers to implement advanced fraud prevention systems and offering consumers tools to limit risks, such as the ability to set a maximum amount for instant transfers.

One of the main novelties is also the obligation for payment service providers to verify the correspondence of beneficiary names and IBANs for all transactions.

Additionally, the regulation ensures universal access to instant euro fund transfers for all Payment Service Users (PSUs). It states that there should be no disparities in the channels used to initiate instant payments compared to other types of fund transfers.

TAS's solution for Instant Payments fully covers compliance with the new regulation, with the possibility of adopting the platform modularly and as a service.

Thanks to ur long-standing relationships with most Italian banks, TAS has become a leader in Instant Payments solutions in Italy and has in-depth market knowledge and a unique ability to meet the needs of financial institutions in the product adoption journey.

With its expansion across Europe, TAS is well-positioned to drive innovation in the instant payments sector, offering a comprehensive, modular, and innovative solution that meets the needs of Italian and European banks.

Our commitment is indeed to be a true partner for banks, working closely with them to understand and meet their specific needs.

The modularity of the solution allows banks to choose only the necessary components and design a tailored architecture based on their specific requirements. Additionally, our solutions are based on a modern architecture designed to ensure complete service continuity, with real-time operations 24 hours a day.

Our offering model is based on a very flexible approach and can be implemented in the cloud, on-premises, or in SaaS mode, allowing for rapid and effective time to market.

Key features of TAS solution:

• Full compliance with SEPA Inst protocol requirements: complete processing time <10 sec., Timeout management.
• Cloud-native platform: for a turnkey offering with real-time 24 × 7 operations.
• Omni-channel: corporate portal, retail banking, back-office, etc.
• API interfaces: for payment initiation, reachability, and message requests.
• Message enhancement: message data enrichment through integration with core banking.
• Message screening: message verification through integration with screening systems (e.g., AML, Fraud, etc.).
• Message pairing and r-messages: Pairing of related messages and management of r-messages.
• "Four Eyes" principle: workflow can be defined with multilevel approval processes wherever necessary.
• Error alert: notifications can be sent in case of errors.
• Scalability and fault tolerance: the solution ensures full vertical and horizontal scalability.
• Certified full SWIFT message interface: the message network interface is a fully certified SWIFT application.

Contact our experts to find out how TAS can support you in implementing fast, effective, secure, and fully compliant solutions with the new regulations.

We continue to invest in innovation within the payment sector by introducing advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solutions aimed at significantly improving efficiency, security, and overall user experience.

Now available on our website is an intelligent chatbot named LIA, designed to respond to user inquiries quickly and efficiently. This is just one example of our innovation journey focused on two main areas: integrating advanced AI-based features into our products and optimizing internal processes through the effective implementation of AI.

Enhanced Security with "Fraud Protect"
Security in payment systems is an absolute necessity, especially in the digital context that poses continuous challenges and threats. "Fraud Protect," our fraud management solution, now incorporates advanced AI technologies to identify suspicious transaction patterns, significantly enhancing fraud prevention and anti-terrorism security. Additionally, the introduction of the intelligent chatbot "IVIC," which engages with users in potential risk situations, improves customer experience and helps reduce false positives.

Optimized Transaction Processing and Reconciliation
AI plays a crucial role in automating transaction processing and reconciliation processes. By reducing manual errors, we increase operational efficiency, ensuring greater accuracy in transactions. Predictive analysis plays a fundamental role in managing transaction peaks, allocating resources more efficiently. TAS's Banking Treasury product is evolving to implement AI-based predictive treasury models, capable of predicting liquidity needs in real-time, even on an intraday basis.

Global Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Payment Systems
We believe that the use of AI in the production process of payment systems has become essential and capable of influencing productivity, quality, and product innovation. From transaction processing to project management to customer support, AI is transforming every aspect of the process, opening new horizons in an ever-evolving industry. That's why we continuously invest in integrating new AI-based technologies into our products to stay ahead and ensure increasingly effective and secure payment solutions.

Milan, November 2^nd, 2023 - TAS SpA (hereinafter "TAS"), a leading company in the supply of software and services for banking and financial applications in Europe, is pleased to announce the appointment of Fabio Benasso as Chairman of the Group following a meeting of the Board of Directors held today.

Fabio Benasso began his career at Accenture in 1984 after graduating in Business and Economics from the University of Pavia. From 2006 to 2021, he served as the CEO of Accenture Italy and Geographic Unit Senior Managing Director for the IGEM Region, as well as a member of the Global Leadership Council of Accenture International BV. From 2013 to 2023, he was the Chairman of Accenture Italy, and from September 2021 to the end of August 2023, he served as Advisor to the Chair and CEO and a member of the Executive Committee of Accenture International BV.

He also held the position of CEO for Expo and CEO for Milan Post Expo, in addition to serving as Vice Chairman with Delegation for Simplification at Assolombarda Confindustria Milano Monza e Brianza. Until his departure from Accenture S.p.A., he was a member of the Board of Directors and the General Council. He held the position of a member of the General Council of Confindustria, was a member of the Board of Directors and the General Council of the Confindustria Digital Federation, and a member of the General Council of Anitec-Assinform. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy and served as Vice Chairman from 2018 to 2021. In 2014, he assumed the chair of the Sustainability Committee. Since the end of March 2022, he has been the Scientific Director of the LGH Foundation of the a2a Group. He has been the Chairman of FIA - Italian Accenture Foundation since March 2023.

Valentino Bravi, CEO of TAS, stated: "We are thrilled to welcome Fabio Benasso as the new Chairman of the TAS Board of Directors. His extraordinary managerial experience, gained in companies of great significance in both the Italian and international landscapes, makes him a key figure in guiding the TAS Group towards a future of innovation, technological leadership, and sustainability, all of which are areas we have been investing in during these years."

Giuseppe Franze, a member of the TAS Board of Directors and Partner of the Rivean Capital fund, said: "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to welcome Fabio Benasso. Fabio has been a pioneer in the Italian ICT field, a partner at Accenture since 1996, and has taken it from a few thousand employees to one of the leading players in the Italian market with over 25,000 employees in Italy. Fabio's appointment is part of the broader growth path of the TAS Group, bringing expertise, vision, and leadership thanks to his extraordinary experience. With his entry, Rivean reaffirms its commitment to accelerating the development of TAS."

Fabio Benasso, Chairman of TAS, commented: "I am very pleased to take on this role at TAS and will leverage the experience I have gained over the years. I believe in the need to invest in technology and people, and to work towards a sustainable economy. In TAS, I see an environment where I can act in this direction, and I am happy to contribute to the development of projects in a critical and ever-evolving sector like payments, bringing growth and innovation to both the company and the country."

Download Press Release