Insights

During TAS Group’s workshop at the recent Payvolution virtual event, Stefano Macchi, Global Payments’ subject matter expert, illustrated the great potential of the new SEPA standard developed by the EPC. R2P, together with instant payments and open banking, enables PSPs to offer a more digital, efficient and end-to-end user experience, irrespective of the target segment: consumer, business customer, merchant or public admin.

While the actual roll-out of the standard has been postponed to March 1 2021, from a technical point of view, everything is ready for the first initiative launched by EBA Clearing, whose testing phase began in July, with 27 partners from the financial world from 11 European countries that have joined the project.

R2P is not an additional payment instrument but a new, all-digital way of requesting a payment for which a payee and a payer electronically exchange structured data through a message workflow, before exchanging money. Being initiated by the creditor, R2P allows for a 100% automatic reconciliation of the subsequent payment, even if done in several instalments and deferred instead of in real time.

On the application platforms and channels of TAS, a series of competitive services for customers on both the beneficiary / payee side and the customer / payer side are created on the basis of calls to the standard R2P infrastructure. These services integrate domestic use cases already implemented in the PayTAS scenarios for B2G / C2G interaction as well as on CBI Globe (the leading Italian Open Banking Ecosystem standard), but are ready for billers, PSPs and clients throughout the entire SEPA area.

The Consolidated T2/T2S platform goes live in 2021 and banks have to adapt their access mode to reach the Eurosystem,especially those who currently connect to T2 over the Internet, since this will no longer be allowed. In order to help T2 participants easily comply with the new mandatory ESMIG interface, TAS Group developed PAG€, the first cloud-based, easy and scalable solution that embeds certified NSP connectivity for a smooth and transparent migration. With its user friendly interface, PAG€ allows quick access to the Eurosystem Targ€t Services, enabling both U2A and A2A functionalities, through an agile and secure cloud service that guarantees all the standards required by the new ESMIG interface. What makes PAG€ so powerful is the cutting-edge technology at its core: PAG€ is the result of a combination of TAS leading-edge technology and over 35 years of payments experience in mission-critical market infrastructures, Amazon Web Services (AWS) secure cloud and accredited NSP connectivity. Discover more

Milan, 21 January 2020 - TAS SpA (BIT: TAS), a leading European provider of software and services for banking and financial applications, today announced that already 12 banks and interbank service centers have chosen to adopt TAS Group’s solutions to prepare for the Target2/T2S Consolidation Project, that will go live in November 2022. A further 11 market operators have to date signed with TAS Group since the first contract assignment by CASSA DEPOSITI E PRESTITI in Q2 2019, who selected Aquarius to manage the Target2/T2S Consolidation Project and its impacts pre- and post-migration. For over 20 years, TAS Group has been assisting the Eurosystem's Commercial and Central Banks in harmonizing infrastructures, from the Italian RTGS BIREL migration to the first Pan-European TARGET infrastructure, up to the latest evolutions of the European Central Bank's T2, TIPS, T2S and Collateral Management infrastructures. Traditionally renowned for its network management solutions, such as TAS Network Gateway, today TAS Group is rapidly increasing its market presence also thanks to Aquarius, the platform that strategically accelerates the digital transformation of Treasuries by facilitating migrations towards the ISO 20022 standard, instant settlement and real-time intraday liquidity management. The consolidation of the Target2 and T2-Securities infrastructures will happen with a big-bang approach that will mark the birth of a new real-time settlement infrastructure for cash, securities and collateral, with a single entry point for all European Financial markets operators (Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway, ESMIG), and the aim of increasing efficiency and optimizing liquidity management for all TARGET services. Impacts deriving from the Consolidation Project requirements will affect the banks’ treasury role significantly. However, regulatory compliance can be turned into an opportunity for banks to deliver real digital transformation by adopting technologies that allow them to automate manual activities, integrate richer information and evolve legacy applications to take advantage of real-time business intelligence on intraday liquidity and forecasts. “The market has understood that regulatory projects can present resources and opportunities for digital transformation in banks and trusts TAS for its innovative solutions and skills. Thanks also to the excellent contribution of our Partners, to date 12 customers have already adopted our solutions to prepare for the migration to the new T2-T2S system," said Valentino Bravi, CEO, TAS Group. “Our deals won portfolio is rapidly increasing, and in the coming months we expect to gain over 80% of the Italian market and to acquire new international references as well.” Last year, TAS Group, together with KPMG and Accenture, collected and coordinated an Interbank Working Group for the T2/T2S Consolidation Project to which over 30 market operators have joined, confirming itself as the undisputed leader in terms of technology enabling the centralized management of securities, cash and collateral. Download the press release