One of Europe's largest payment transaction processors uses Distra switch technology to support real time direct corporate access for its ‘UK Faster Payments Service’.
Commencing with the Cruickshank Report, published in March 2000, the UK Banks were under growing consumer pressure to voluntarily improve the existing three day clearing and settlement cycle. In due course the UK Banks’ governing body APACS, working with representatives from each of the Banks, defined and agreed the 'Faster Payments Service'. The service is able to reduce the time scale from initiating the transaction to receipt of funds to near real-time. Initially thirteen of the UK’s Banks signed up as members of the service with further expansion planned in the future. APACS went out to tender for a supplier of the new service and eventually selected a joint proposal from the UK’s now merged Voca and LINK organisations (VocaLink) to build and implement the infrastructure necessary to operate the service. This required VocaLink to review its existing capabilities and, in doing so, recognised the advantage of employing new technology that would meet the demanding needs of a real time transaction processing environment.
In addition to providing the platform for the VocaLink Payment Switch (VPS) gateway, Distra also provided VocaLink with the necessary real time switching technology to support a direct corporate access for its central infrastructure. After reviewing several of the on-line transaction processing solutions available on the market, VocaLink quickly determined that Distra’s solution could meet its requirements of high performance, reliability and availability, whilst simultaneously delivering the flexibility to adapt rapidly to the constant demand for change. Delivered on time by Distra, the direct corporate access capability is due to be made available as a value-added feature to users of the Faster Payments Service in the near future.