KBC Bank Once Again Selects Equens for SCT Processing

BRUSSELS and UTRECHT, The Netherlands, October 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

KBC Bank and the pan-European card and payment processor Equens SE have reached an agreement on the processing of SEPA Credit Transfers (SCT). The two companies have signed a contract renewing their existing arrangement until 2015. Equens processes all of the SCT transactions for the branches of KBC Bank in Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In the coming years, the number of these transactions - more than 100 million in 2011 - is expected to continue to rise.

Ivo De Meersman, General Manager of Payments at KBC Bank: "After carefully considering more than ten companies, we once again chose Equens. Our choice was largely based on our previous experiences with them in back-office processing. However, the deciding factor for KBC Bank was the excellent price-quality ratio Equens offers."

Michel Stuijt, General Manager of Market Management at Equens: "We are extremely pleased that KBC Bank has again selected Equens. This renewal of our contract with them for the back-office SCT processing has strengthened our position in the Belgian market. Furthermore, it provides excellent opportunities for us to further expand our position in the Benelux."

Equens is doing its utmost to make the arrival of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) on 1 February 2014 as smooth and efficient as possible. With the implementation of the European payment products, the technical side of the payment settlement process is going to change completely, due to the use of, among other things, new file formats, interfaces and BIC/IBAN codes. National payment products will make way for SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD).

Editorial note

About Equens

Equens SE is one of the largest payment processors in Europe, leading the market for future-proof payment and card solutions. Thanks to an extensive and competitive range of services, the company seamlessly meets the requirements and wishes of the European payments market. Equens supports the development of a single, uniform European payments market (SEPA), and is dedicated to the standardisation and harmonisation of European and global payments. With clients and partnerships in multiple European countries, the company offers pan-European market coverage from offices in five countries - the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Finland and the United Kingdom. And with an annual processing volume of 9.9 billion payments and 4.1 billion POS and ATM transactions, Equens SE has a European market share of more than 12.5%.

For additional information on Equens, please visit http://www.equens.com.