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Corporate clients demand
technologically forward-looking standard products which can be used for multi-bank
payments. Multi-bank capability, i.e. the reachability of all banks, is essential for the corporate client since
it is the
only means of sending payment instructions to several
banks in a cost-effective manner. The payment transactions involved include not
just credit
transfers and direct debits but cover the whole spectrum of the corporate customers cash
management.
Since 1995 it has been compulsory
for all German banks to comply with the Banking Communication
Standard (BCS), which has thus become the industry standard for corporate customer payment
transactions. This means that for over ten years German corporate clients have benefited from
flexibility in their choice of financial institution - a
situation largely unknown in many markets. The standards user neutrality
regarding business transactions and data formats on the one hand
and its precise definition of the order types to be supported on the other
hand (e. g. MT940 account statements and later on the
new XML-based generation) enabled several highly specialised applications (e.g. Multicash)
to be developed for the exchange by corporate clients of BCS compliant payment transaction data files.
It emerged, however, that basing the BCS on the FTAM communication protocol
did not lend itself to
internet use.
For this reason, the Zentraler
Kreditausschuss (ZKA) enhanced BCS processes to make them suitable for
internet-based use and built in some additional features such as the
distributed digital signature. The resulting EBICS (Electronic Banking
Internet Communication Standard) was recently adopted
by the ZKA and can now be downloaded by all interested corporate clients,
software engineers and banks. By the end of 2006 financial institutions and corporate clients will
have started implementing the EBICS.
The EBICS forte is that the basic
BCS concept remains: a data file exchange independent of
message standards and formats using established digital signature and
encryption procedures. Its features are based on international standards
for internet communication and improved security (XML, https as well as
TLS and SSL).
During the development of the EBICS
care was taken to ensure that it would be compatible with advances in
international standards. EBICS consequently has the potential to become a European standard. SEPA data format payment transfers
using EBICS only require the specification of a new order type. Account
information, on the other hand, can already be provided using the internationally
established MT940 format. The EBICS thus has the makings of another milestone on the road
towards SEPA by guaranteeing the reachability of all banks by means of
a single
communication technique throughout Europe.
Since 01-Jan-2008
it is compulsory for all German financial institutions to
offer EBICS. FTAM will only be supported until 31-Dec-2010.
Information about the current planning can be found in section
Specification.
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