Paris, 17 September 2001

The EBA payment systems extend their reach:

100 banks now Connected to EURO1 and 160 banks to STEP1

Two more banks, Erste Bank der Österreichischen Sparkassen, Vienna and Baden-Württembergische Bank, Stuttgart commenced operations in the EBA's EURO1 system today, 17th September, bringing the total number of direct participants to 73. In addition Allied Irish Banks GB, London, First Trust Bank, Belfast and ING France, Paris joined as sub-participants. There are now 25 bank subsidiaries connected to EURO1 as sub-participants, which enables them to send and receive payments directly in EURO1.

At the same time 20 new members joined the STEP1 system, bringing the total number of banks accessing the system to 163.

The new banks are:

  • Allgemeine Sparkasse Oberoesterreich, Austria

  • Bank fuer Kaernten und Steiermark, Austria

  • Dornbirner Sparkasse, Austria

  • Hypo-Alpe-Adria Bank, Austria

  • Bank Styria, Austria

  • Artesia Banking Corporation, Belgium

  • Amtssparekassen, Denmark

  • Spar Nord Bank, Denmark

  • Banque Michel Inchauspe-BAMI, France

  • Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa, Italy

  • Banca Monte Parma, Italy

  • Banca Popolare di Ancona, Italy

  • Banca Popolare di Bergamo-Credito Varesino, Italy

  • Banca Popolare di Lodi, Italy

  • Banca Sella, Italy

  • Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, Italy

  • ICCREA Bank, Italy

  • Banco Zaragozano, Spain

  • Caixa Catalunya, Spain

  • Caja Gipuzkoa, Spain

Willy Scheerlinck, Chairman, EBA CLEARING, commented: "EBA Clearing has established itself as the provider of payment clearing services of choice for banks in the EU. Current membership is set to further expand early next year, since many banks have already expressed a firm interest in joining one of the systems, but are waiting until after the introduction of euro notes and coins before doing so."

Note to editors:

EURO1 has confirmed its position as the principal cross border euro payment system, processing over 120,000 credit transfers daily for a combined value in excess of 200 billion euro. EURO1 accounts for 47% of comparable traffic in Europe. Volume is expected to increase with the full adoption of the euro in 2002.

The EBA's low-value payment system, STEP1, was successfully launched last November and continues to attract new users.