Zurich, 15 October 2001 – With swisseuroGATE Swiss Interbank Clearing AG introduces the fast, simple and inexpensive connection via TARGET between 36,000 banks in the European Union and 1,600 financial institutions in Switzerland. Using their existing payment traffic infrastructures, EU banks can execute payments into Switzerland without needing a correspondence bank connection.

Notwithstanding the short-term cancellation of Sibos 2001, Swiss Interbank Clearing launches swisseuroGATE, the new interface between euroSIC, the Swiss euro clearing system and TARGET, the European payment traffic system for cross-border euro payments. Thanks to swisseuroGATE, payments via TARGET from the EU zone reach the beneficiary in Switzerland just as fast as a transaction within the European Union would reach its beneficiary. In our case the transmitting bank uses their regular payment traffic application and formats the payment message exactly like any other TARGET payment. No additional account- or correspondence banking-connections are necessary.
Picture this scenario: It‘s late afternoon. An Italian bank wants to transfer 12,500 euro from Milan to St. Moritz with the amount arriving the same day in the Swiss Alps. Easy! So long as the Italian bank is connected to TARGET via the national payment system, euro can be transferred from anywhere in Europe to Switzerland using swisseuroGATE.

Additional Information

Swiss Interbank Clearing AG, Zurich

Swiss Interbank Clearing AG is a company wholly owned by Telekurs Holding AG operating payment systems in Swiss francs (SIC) and euro (euroSIC) as a joint venture of the Swiss financial institutions. You can find extensive information about us at www.sic.ch.

Sibos

Sibos is the world’s largest, annual trade-show for banking management representatives, regulators, investment managers, security brokers as well as financial and banking administrative specialists.

SIC and euroSIC

SIC and euroSIC, the two Swiss clearing systems for Swiss Francs or euro, guarantee their participating banks the immediate settlement of payments within Switzerland and across its borders. In addition, they offer most efficient options for cash management. swiss€gate guarantees smooth connections between euroSIC participants and banks connected to TARGET in the EU zone. remote-SIC provides banks worldwide with remote access to SIC and euroSIC. Payments are processed via SWIFT, cash management services are offered on the Internet.

SECB Swiss Euro Clearing Bank GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany

The SECB was founded in Frankfurt in 1998 as a joint venture between Telekurs and several Swiss financial institutions as a direct participant in the German RTGSplus . SECB has access to TARGET and acts simultaneously as the intermediary for payments between euroSIC and TARGET.

Some Facts and Figures

Each year SIC handles 150 million payments. On peak days, up to 300 billion Swiss Francs in total transaction value are processed. The number of euroSIC payments has increased steadily since the first day of operation in January of 1999. In 2000, euroSIC settled a total of 804,000 transactions, more than a third of which were cross-border payments.

Information:
Christian Schwinghammer
Manager Payment Projects

Phon: +41 44 279 43 27
e-mail