Eurogiro-UPU bridge opens today - Italian and Egyptian Posts launch new service

The Eurogiro-UPU bridge now opens to many other Posts using either network to interconnect and start offering similar affordable money-transfer services.
 

Eurogiro development team awarded 'Team of the Year'

In 2011 the new Eurogiro software development team has been awarded their company's prestigious award of 'Team of the Year'. Deputy Head of Delivery, Mr Muthuramalingam, explains how this was achieved.
 

Interview with Daniel Krebs, Member of the Eurogiro Board

Daniel Krebs from Swiss Post PostFinance in the Eurogiro Board since Dec 2011

Eurogiro is pleased to welcome Liberty Bank in the Eurogiro community

Liberty Bank is a universal bank, serving both retail and corporate cilents. Liberty Bank is the 4th largest bank in Georgia with the largest branch network and the largest retail client base, currently serving 1.3 million individuals through 274 branches and service points. 

Liberty Bank is the leader in providing remittance services via 21 money transfer systems, with an approximately 42% market share in Georgia.
Liberty Bank will be a MLF participant and connect to Eurogiro through the SECUG system and expects to be live in the Eurogiro network within the next 2 months.

Eurogiro is pleased to welcome Lithuania Post in the Eurogiro community

Lithuania Post is a state-owned public limited company being the universal postal service provider in Lithuania. With a network of almost 840 access points, Lithuania Post is the largest postal operator in the Baltic countries. Each month the services rendered by the team of professionals are used by nearly a third of the total population, i.e. about 800 000 customers.

In order to meet the growing needs of its customers, the company expands the range of financial services by joining the Eurogiro network. Lithuania Post plans to launch the remittance service via the Eurogiro network in April 2012. Initially transfers for outgoing and incoming payments would be provided in 157 rural and 215 urban post offices. By the end of the current year, the service would be available in almost 600 access points.

Eurogiro is pleased to inform about our newest member: Al Rajhi Bank

Al Rajhi Bank, founded in 1957, is one of the largest Islamic banks in the world having over 50 years of experience in banking and trading activities having total assets of SR 184 billion (US$ 49 bn) and an employee base of over 8,000 associates.

Interview with Sylvie Solignac, Chairman of the Eurogiro Board

Sylvie Solignac has an exceptionally broad understanding of the payment financial markets domestically and cross border, both within Europe and in other regions of the world. She understands the particular role the posts can play for instance in strengthening infrastructure and financial inclusion. Mastering the languages of French, English, Russian and Arabic she will have a rare ability to foster the dialogue and mutual understanding across cultures that is essential for a global community like Eurogiro. Sylvie Solignac holds the position as Head of International Office at La Banque Postale in France and has been in the Eurogiro Board since 2009

Ascot 1990; The group of founders of Eurogiro and front-runners of the first Eurogiro Board of Directors and Steering Committee. Sylvie Solignac is in first row to the far left

Brazil's Caixa Econômica Federal consolidates USD remittance processing with Eurogiro

Eurogiro CEO speaks at the 'Pochtovaya Troika 2011' Forum hosted by Russian Post

Russian Post manages to get attendance from out of space

Eurogiro is pleased to inform about our newest member; Bangladesh Post.

With over 9,800 branches, Bangladesh Post has one of the largest physical networks in the country of Bangladesh.
With an innovative approach to financial services, the Post’s  domestic money transfer service is now directly linked to over 1,750 branches, and in May 2011 provided over 235,000 domestic transactions in that month.

With the initial Eurogiro implementation for international payments and remittances, the system will directly link to the Post’s domestic money transfer service for cash payout at its linked-branches. Future plans at Bangladesh Post include linking the Eurogiro international payments service with more branches and with Bangladesh Post’s Cash Card and Mobile Wallet account.

The Great East Japan Earthquake and its effects on Japan Post Bank’s Eurogiro business

The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011, followed by a tsunami, resulted in more than 14,000 people losing their lives and, even now, over 11,000 people remain unaccounted for. Approximately 130,000 are homeless or have had to be evacuated. In addition to the earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima nuclear power-plant radiation leakage is casting a gloomy shadow on hopes of putting people’s lives back together again.

This disaster also inflicted enormous damage on the Japan Post Group in its key fields of mail, banking and insurance and on the post office network as a whole. Over 100 post offices/branches in the disaster area were either completely or partially destroyed.

JPB Eurogiro Payment Outflow
There are 233 Japan Post Bank Branches and over 7,000 post offices which are authorised to accept applications from customers for oversea remittance.  These applications are sent to the Tokyo Operations Centre (TOC), which is the sole exchange office for overseas and is the ELS Production site. At TOC, the payment data is input and transmitted as Eurogiro envelopes to Eurogiro partners once a day. Regarding the incoming service at TOC, payment data is received from Eurogiro partners once a day. Payments are then deposited to the payees’ accounts, or money orders are printed and mailed to payees. At branches and post offices money orders can be cashed by the payee.

Difficult situation, however to maintain normal business
After 11th March and during April, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) was unable to provide full electric coverage to the Kanto region as a result of the Fukushima nuclear reactor shut down; this included the TOC. TEPCO took the step of imposing partial blackouts to selected areas at set times with serious impact on public transportation We were required to implement emergency measures in the event of possible blackouts, such as shutting down the Eurogiro system (ELS), to avoid malfunctions of the system. We planned precisely for optimal use of ELS, manpower and limited electricity, in accordance with the planned blackout time schedule. Furthermore, the TOC has an in-house power generator for emergency purposes. However, we have to secure sufficient fuel to provide for any prolonged blackouts.

Necessity of saving electricity for the summer
The Japanese government plans to urge all organisations to reduce electricity consumption by 15% for the coming summer when demand for electricity is expected to increase. The JPB is now considering some measures to cut electricity which also will have an impact to the Eurogiro connection.

Thanks to Eurogiro A/S
Eurogiro have been informing member countries of the situation relating to the JPB Eurogiro service. In terms of the IT system, the Eurogiro Servicedesk has had extended focus set up to handle the situation. Any transactions sent to JPB go into “retry” mode and are automatically delivered once JPB is online again. Thanks to this IT setting, sending Eurogiro members have no need for any special actions.

Anticipated effects on JPB Eurogiro payments
Although adverse effects on JPB Eurogiro service may occur, the JPB will do its utmost to try to maintain normal business. Possible adverse effects on the JPB Eurogiro service regarding outgoing payments, due to electricity shortages at the TOC, may result in delays in sending envelopes overseas. In addition, answers to inquiries by overseas Eurogiro partners might take more time than usual. Electricity shortages at the branch/post office may result in delays in mailing applications to the TOC. As for the incoming payments, the electricity shortages at the TOC may result in delays in mailing money orders to payees or depositing to payee’s accounts.

JPB Eurogiro Contingency Plans
In 2010, we set up a Disaster Recovery (DR) site in Yokohama Operation Centre (YOC). Data between TOC and YOC is synchronized each hour.

Two different cases for BCP

The Contingency Plan takes into consideration two different situations:

1) break- down of the Production ELS and

2) disaster at the TOC when neither the Production ELS nor the Test ELS operate.

In the case of 1), we usually switch to Test ELS or repair the ELS Production system and it would be fairly easy to continue business. However, if it will take more than 48 hours to repair the ELS Production system, the second contingency case 2) will be activated.  In this situation, the switching process from the Production system to the DR system would be required. In addition, staff at the TOC that have more expertise in Eurogiro system than those at the in YOC should be dispatched to the DR site.

Make BCP feasible with further improvements
In order to make the Contingency Plan feasible, simulating training should be practiced at least once a year. During the simulating training, we can check how to report to relevant parties and so on. Results could bring some fresh ideas into the Contingency Plan.

Mr Hiromitsu Nishida, Eurogiro general contact within Japan Post Bank

Japan Post Bank’s Eurogiro connection operates despite disaster

Eurogiro informs that the services at Japan Post Bank continue despite the terrible earthquake that struck Japan Friday, 11 March 2011. It has been decided to turn off the systems in Japan when idle due to the scarce electrical resources. Blackouts should happen daily and will be continued during March and possibly April as well.  

The IT Director of Eurogiro, Uwe Holmsgaard, states that the network is robust to handle this situation. Any transactions sent to Japan will go into “retry” mode and will automatically be delivered once Japan Post Bank is online again and there is no need for any special actions by the sending Eurogiro member.

However, according to contacts to colleagues at Japan Post Bank, Japan Post Bank is experiencing damages to local post offices and branches and is impacted by the damages to infrastructure and energy supplies in general and have a limited number of people to take operations. Delays may be expected.

UPU and Eurogiro sign agreement

Edouard Dayan, Director General of the UPU, and Armin Brun, chairman of Eurogiro’s board of directors, at UPU headquarters signing the UPU - Eurogiro interconnection agreement.

 The UPU’s International Financial System network facilitates the exchange of postal payment services among the Posts of its member countries. Eurogiro facilitates the provision of  financial services and payment exchange solutions among its customers, which include Posts, postal financial institutions and banks.

The parties will now work on a pilot project to ensure that such interconnection is both technically and operationally feasible.

 The project’s aim is also to certify that, when put in place, services would comply with the principles and requirements defined in the UPU’s international treaty, the Postal Payment    Services Agreement and its Regulations.

One hundred and seventeen UPU member countries are signatories of this treaty, which defines the type of services (cash-to-cash, cash-to-account, account-to-cash and account-to-account) and quality of service Posts must offer to their customers, among other things.

64 posts, postal financial services and banks around the globe are today exchanging payments using the Eurogiro network, service level agreements and settlement services.

The two networks could be interconnected by mid-2011, assuming the pilot is successful.

Ganart presents its new technology to Eurogiro

Eurogiro members did well in EU bank stress test

The stress test by CEBS (Committee of European Banking Supervisors) concerned six Eurogiro members being  Sydbank (DK), Deutsche Postbank (DE), Deutsche Bank (DE), EFG Eurobank (GR), Santander (ES) and BBVA (ES). All passed the stress limit set by CEBS and maintained their Tier 1 capital ratio well above 6%.

CEBS informs that the test was mandated by ECOFIN and the European Central Bank to provide policy information for assessing the resilience of the EU banking system to possible adverse economic development and to assess the ability of banks in the exercise to absorb possible shocks of credit and market risks, including sovereign risks. 7 banks out of 91 tested would see their tier 1 capital fall below 6%.

Eurogiro congratulates on the good results.

Eurogiro's view on SEPA

International Banking Systems, Dec 2007/Jan 2008

Eurogiro welcomes Ukranie Post.

Eurogiro is happy to announce that Ukraine Post has signed a MultiLateral Framework agreement and thereby becomes a new member of our community.

Ukraine Post will connect to Eurogiro through the ELS (Eurogiro Local System) and is scheduled to go live in April 2010.  To begin with, the Post will provide its customers with cash transfers for both incoming and outgoing payments.

With more than 15,000 post office outlets (including more than 10.000 in rural areas) Ukraine Post brings unique last mile reach for both the inbound and outbound  remittance market.

The Eurogiro General Contact is:

Ms. Larysa Stefanenko

Head International Affairs Department

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Telephone: [+380 44 278 5139]

Fax: [+380 44 278 7969]

India Post joins the Eurogiro community

Please welcome India Post as a member in the Eurogiro community, and an expansion of the Eurogiro payment gateway into the country of India.

India Post plans to launch its remittance service via the Eurogiro network in October 2009.  Across its vast network of post office branches, the Post will provide its customers with cash and account transfers for both incoming and outgoing payments.

Indians working abroad will now be able to send payments for either cash pickup at a postal branch, or request to send cash directly to their relatives at their doorstep. India Post will provide account-to-account international payments like the banks in India, and they also plan to provide an outbound payment service with Eurogiro members for cash receipt.

India Post is a 100% government-owned postal and financial institution, established over 150 years ago to promote postal services and small savings development in India. The strength of India Post lies in its vast network and the end-to-end rural reach it provides in retail and cash management.

The Post has a vast network of 155,035 post offices (as on 31^st March 2008), and is the largest postal organisation in the world. As a result it has become a popular mechanism for last mile delivery of both private commercial and governmental services.

India Post as a retail outlet has been increasing in popularity. The rapidly changing Indian economic scenario - liberalization, globalization, and a widespread technological revolution –has given rise to the need for efficient delivery of a variety of services.  The Post provides not only universal postal services, but it also serves as a useful channel for other socially significant schemes like small savings, payment of Pension, Postal Life Insurance, especially for rural India.

The Post Office Savings Bank is the oldest and largest banking institution in India. It has over 200 million savings accounts and provides deposit facilities at over 154,000 branches spread out throughout India. In addition to its current deposit based activities, it also distributes a number of investment options including mutual funds, pension funds and non-life insurance.

The country of India is the largest receiver of international remittances. The World Bank estimates that US $45 billion of remittances were received by India in 2008, compared to $27 billion in 2007. In its annual report of 2008-09, the RBI said the global economic downturn had not dampened the flow of remittances to India, owing to many factors such as depreciation of the rupee, hike in interest rate ceilings on NRI deposits and uncertainties in oil prices.

For more information on connecting with India Post via the Eurogiro network, please contact Ms Manisha Sinha at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

LANDBANK joins the Eurogiro Community

Please welcome the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) as a member in the Eurogiro community, and an expansion of the Eurogiro payment gateway into the country of the Philippines.

LANDBANK is a 100% government-owned financial institution, and is the largest government bank by asset size in the Philippines. With its social mandate of spurring countryside development in the Philippines, LANDBANK has the most extensive distribution reach into 80 of the 81 provinces in the country, serving its customers through its 342 branches, extension offices, tellering booths, forex and servicing units. It also has more than 800 ATMs strategically located across the country. The Bank’s operations are regulated by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The World Bank reported that the Philippines received US$16.4 billion in 2008, and is the 4^th largest country recipient of inbound remittances in the world. Remittance inflows are a major driver of growth and consumption in the Philippine economy, representing about 10 percent of the country’s GDP.

LANDBANK’s aim in joining Eurogiro is to provide a more extensive reach to the millions of Overseas Filipinos who seek a safe, reliable and low-cost means to send money home. In a recent press statement, LANDBANK President & CEO Gilda E. Pico said, “LANDBANK is geared towards further enhancing our programs for OFWs. We are committed to serve and respond to the banking needs of our kababayans (countrymen) all over the world, as well as their families in the Philippines”. LANDBANK’s membership with the Eurogiro community is a step towards this direction.

For more information on connecting with LANDBANK via the Eurogiro network, please contact Ms Carol Olfindo at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Eurogiro now also CSM for SDD

Eurogiro welcomes Vietnam Post

Eurogiro welcomes Vietnam Post (VNPost) as a new member in the Eurogiro community, and a new Eurogiro payment gateway into the country of Vietnam.

Mr Vinh, Vice President at VNPost notes that the Post has paid great attention to develop different electronic systems or exchanging international money orders with other countries with the aim is to improve service quality and expand cooperation with postal organizations, banks and remittance companies all over the world, and is at the same time strengthening its domestic network operations.

VNPost’s decision to join Eurogiro was based on the benefits to be realised from the Eurogiro community and network that has been offering an international payments service as its core business for over 15 years, with a proven business and IT infrastructure that ensures high quality, international standards for payments, and connectivity to post and banks in nearly 50 countries.

VNPost is scheduled to go live with the Eurogiro network in September 2009. The initial phase will provide cash receipt for international funds transfers at 1,200 designated postal branches of VNPost.

According to a World Bank report, Vietnam is the 10^th largest receiving remittances country in the world among the developing countries.  Vietnam's central bank has forecasted inflows for overseas remittances to be between US$5.8 billion and $6 billion in 2009.

For more information on connecting with Vietnam Post via the Eurogiro network, please contact Ms. Chu Thi Lan Huong at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Eurogiro welcomes Envoy Services Limited

Eurogiro is pleased to welcome Envoy Services Ltd. to the Eurogiro community. Envoy Services joined the recently launched Eurogiro Multilateral Framework as the first new customer and will consequently immediately have reach to all the Eurogiro customers participating in this framework.

Envoy Services Ltd is a UK incorporated payment technology and service provider for the corporate sector providing services to both online and offline companies requiring localised and low cost bill collection and payment execution on a cross border basis.

Envoy Services Ltd is registered with HM Revenue and Customs in the UK as a Money Service Business (MSB) and will become registered as a Payment Institution according to the EU Payments Service Directive.

“By joining the Eurogiro community Envoy Services Ltd has taken an important step in our efforts to expand our network for payments and services in cooperation with other Eurogiro members. In parallel to our participation in the Multilateral Framework we will pursue bilateral agreements with Eurogiro members still operation under the bilateral framework” says Stefan Burkwood, Banking Director at Envoy Services.

Live production is scheduled for September 2009.

For more information on connecting with Envoy Services via the Eurogiro network please contact Mr. Stefan Burkwood at telephone: +44 20 7436 7851 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Eurogiro launches new SMS notification service

Eurogiro has developed a service for SMS notification to the beneficiary of a pending Eurogiro Cash International (ECI) payment and to the sender of a successful pay-out of the ECI payment instruction. An SMS alert will be sent to the beneficiary when the funds are available and ready for collection. Similarly, an SMS will be sent to the sending customer when the beneficiary has collected the funds.

Very little investment is needed by the sending organization to make use of this service.

Eurogiro also offers a service where the sending organization can broadcast the same text to a number of receivers. This service is not linked to the ECI product (or any other Eurogiro product) but can be used by any Eurogiro customer. It may be useful for exception and investigation handling and is based on the SWIFT MT199 – a free format message – where the phone numbers and the required text must be specified.

Eurogiro has now taken the first step in integrating mobile technology in the financial payment flow.

For more information, please contact Eurogiro at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and read more about this new service in our Newsletter June 2009 issue.

Public Statement of Infrastructures promoting the SEPA Progress

We, the undersigning infrastructures, actively support the initiative for a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

In order to provide the operational base for the exchange of SEPA payment instruments, we are offering the processing of SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) to our customer banks, in line with the current provisions set forth by the European banking community and supported by the European Commission and the ECB/Eurosystem.

However, according to our assessment the adoption of the SEPA Credit Transfer has been below most stakeholders’ expectations so far – although we have been providing the necessary infrastructural base. One reason for this is the fact that a lot of public administrations will only start their SEPA migration in the course of 2009.
Likewise, corporations have been hesitant in adopting the SEPA. In order to facilitate the SEPA adoption by public administrations and corporations, we therefore welcome the recommendations already made by the Council of the European Union (ECOFIN) in February 2009 and the Eurosystem and appreciate every future reemphasis that all public administrations and corporations should consider adopting the SCT (and as soon as it is introduced the SEPA Direct Debit) as preferred payment instruments.

Another major reason for the moderate adoption rate might be the insecurity if and when legacy payment instruments will be phased out. It goes without saying that an indefinite parallel processing of legacy payment instruments and SEPA instruments leads to inefficiencies and additional costs for us infrastructures and our customer banks. Moreover increased SEPA Credit Transfer volumes would allow us and our customer banks to reap benefits of economies of scale.

For several years we, as well as our customer banks, have been making considerable investments in order to fulfil the SEPA requirements on time. Therefore, we are interested in planning security, which is likely to promote the diffusion of the SEPA Credit Transfer. In addition, increased planning security would serve those infrastructures which plan to introduce the SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) in 2009.

We are well aware that there are arguments in favour for one common SEPA migration end date for both SEPA instruments (i.e. credit transfers and direct debits) as well as for two separate dates. Although there are advocates for each of these possibilities among the undersigning infrastructures, all of us agree that any of these two outcomes would be better than having no SEPA migration end date at all.

For that reason we are in favour of (a) defined migration end date(s), after which the vast majority of all credit transfers and direct debits in euro (e.g. 90 per cent) will be processed with SEPA instruments only. When defining such (a) date(s), the typical investment cycles (i.e. 3 – 5 years) have to be taken into consideration. Although SEPA has in principal been a market driven project, there is a lot of political interest in the success of SEPA too. Therefore not only a self-regulated migration date but also a regulated one, based on consideration of market feedback, could be a way forward.

We therefore encourage all involved stakeholders to contribute to the discussion on the end date(s) for migration. Based on this discussion, the relevant entities should publish the SEPA migration end date(s) in the course of 2009.

- The undersigning infrastructures in alphabetic order -

In its capacity of RPS
in its capacity as the operator of STEP.AT

Eurogiro launches Multilateral Framework

Eurogiro is proud to launch its MultiLateral Framework (MLF). MLF is a new way to speed up the opening of payment corridors among Eurogiro customers. The guiding principle of the development has been to remove known obstacles to fast and easy implementation of payment corridors in the community. Intensive cooperation involving many Eurogiro customers has resulted in multilateral solutions to many of the challenges of facing correspondent bankers in banks as well as postal organizations.

Eurogiro has enhanced its known, standardized products with multilaterally agreed service levels and single point of settlement solutions. On top of this Eurogiro has created a MultiLateral agreement and Connectivity Certificate to ease the time consuming setting up of bilateral agreements and testing. Furthermore, we enable our customers to collect necessary data on partners from a web based Price Information Billboard and from other rich information services thereby avoid having to collect necessary data on partners from many sources. Eurogiro customers will benefit from substantial cost savings.

Eurogiro will launch the MultiLateral Framework in parallel to existing customers and new customers to leverage our unmatched reach.

Postal organisations expand financial services to capture high-growth global remittances.

Please find here the entire article on the topic made by Ms Juanita Woodward, Director Customer Relations, Asia Pacific, Eurogiro A/S, Singapore Representative Office.

The article was published in the HSBC's Guide to Cash, Supply Chain and Treasury Mananagement in Asia Pacific 2009.

New vendor for Managed Network Services - ENOC

Bangkok Bank joins Eurogiro

Eurogiro is pleased to welcome Bangkok Bank as the first Thai commercial Bank member to join the Eurogiro network.

Mr. Thanit Sirichote, Senior Vice President, Global Payment Services Department, Bangkok Bank said, We recognize that postal organisations have an increasingly important role to play in the international consumer remittance business. Our direct business relationship with post offices and post banks under the Eurogiro framework will make it more convenient and cost effective for customers to remit funds to and from Thailand. Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Japan and South Korea are key payment corridors for consumer payments into Thailand.

As Bangkok Bank is a leading member of all payment-related systems and organisations in Thailand, Mr. Sirichote is confident that Bangkok Bank is well-positioned to provide Eurogiro members with complete payment solutions in the Thai market. Implementation of the Eurogiro services is scheduled to be completed in July 2008. Bangkok Bank will offer Eurogiro members both credit transfers to account, including access to other banks in Thailand, as well as cash payout service at all Bangkok Bank branches across Thailand. Eurogiro members can now send Bangkok Bank SWIFT MT103 customer credit transfers as a single payment or in bulk files via the Eurogiro gateway.

Bangkok Bank is the largest commercial bank in Thailand, with assets of over USD 32 billion. It operates a domestic network of over 750 branches and 4,500 ATMs across Thailand and has an international branch network spanning 13 countries in the Asia Pacific, the United Kingdom and the United States. Bangkok Bank provides a wide range of payment services including consumer payments, corporate and international cash management services and clears more THB payments for foreign financial institutions than any other financial institution in Thailand.

For more information on connecting with Bangkok Bank via the Eurogiro network, contact Ms Benjawan Vichitthanaruk at Tel: +66 2 626 4155 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Single point EUR settlement services prolonged for 3 years

A settlement specialist group in Eurogiro has decided for prolongation of the current single point EUR Settlement Service provided by Deutsche Postbank.

USD settlement service will run at least to 2011

The trial period assigned for the first term of the single point of USD settlement service is over and the service will be continued to late 2011.

Paositra Malagasy in Madagascar has joined Eurogiro

Eurogiro is pleased to announce that Paositra Malagasy joined the Eurogiro community in December 2007.

Eurogiro has opened Representative Office in Singapore

Eurogiro is pleased to announce that Ms. Juanita Woodward has joined Eurogiro as Director, Customer Relations for Asia Pacific. Ms Woodward is based in Singapore where Eurogiro has now established its first regional office to better serve its members. Recognising the significant cross-border payment flows with Asia and intra-Asia, the opening of a regional office in Singapore demonstrates Eurogiro's commitment to provide a global network for international low-value payments. Eurogiro's plans to expand the membership base of postal financial institutions, postbanks and commercial banks in Asia Pacific, will provide end-customers with a greater choice of locations to send remittances.

Citi and Eurogiro join forces to expand payment networks

Combined Distribution Network Will Allow Clients To Send and Receive Payments In Over 100 Countries Around the World

London  (August 30, 2007) - Citi Markets & Banking and Eurogiro, a low value payments network of postal organisations and financial institutions, today announced they would collaborate to extend their respective payment networks. The alliance will bring together Eurogiro's 61 connections in 50 countries across the globe with Citi's existing payment network encompassing over 100 countries. The alliance will enable Eurogiro's members to benefit from Citi's distribution capacity and payment offerings, while Citi and its customers will gain access to Eurogiro's unique distribution network and products.

Henrik Parl, Managing Director of Eurogiro said, We are thrilled to be collaborating with Citi. Citi provides Eurogiro with the leading international payments capabilities and cross-border expertise we were looking for in a banking relationship so we can continue to grow our network while providing clients with the greatest choice of solutions at the best price.

Francesco Vanni d'Archirafi, Global Transaction Services Head for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Citi said, Expanding our payment network is a core initiative for Citi and Eurogiro is an ideal ally for us. We are proud to be working with Eurogiro to extend our respective networks to create this best in class solution.

Naveed Sultan, Head of Cash Management for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Citi said, Citi and Eurogiro are a complimentary fit as Eurogiro members can leverage Citi's international payment services while Citi and our customers will benefit from utilizing Eurogiro's unparalleled distribution network. We look forward to our continued work together.

Media Contacts: Eurogiro: Soren Rose, +45 4371 2772 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Citi: Jeanette Volpi +44 (0)207 986 2809 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

About Eurogiro:

Eurogiro Network A/S is a network of financial institutions providing effective solutions and an efficient platform for co-operation on cross border payments. Eurogiro's core strengths are cost efficient solutions, connectivity across borders and among different financial players and a friendly and efficient co-operation spirit. Fifty-seven organizations, i.e. posts, postbanks and commercial banks as well as alliance partners among other providers forms the Eurogiro community.

About Citi:

Citi Markets & Banking is the most complete financial partner to corporations, financial institutions, institutional investors and governments in the world. As a global leader in banking, capital markets, and transaction services, with a presence in many countries dating back more than 100 years, Citi enables clients to achieve their strategic financial objectives by providing them with cutting-edge ideas, best-in-class products and solutions, and unparalleled access to capital and liquidity. Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under the trademark red arc include: Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Citi Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

Western Union and Eurogiro extend cooperative agreement

Englewood, COLO (July 16, 2007) The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in money transfer services, and Eurogiro, a provider of electronic payment network solutions, today announced that they have extended their alliance for a multi-year term.

Haypost in Armenia joins Eurogiro

On 27 April HayPost signed the membership agreement for Eurogiro Network, through which HayPost offices will be electronically connected to more than 60,000 post offices across Europe; the 50 million Postbank accountholders in Europe will be able to send money in a reliable, fast manner and at low cost to any of the 900 communities in Armenia.

The Eurogiro membership also provides high quality gateways to the U.S. banking system, and e.g. postal banks in Brazil, Japan and China. The Eurogiro membership is a fundamental step towards the Postbank in Armenia - it will fuel the competition in money transfers. Armenia's rural and remote communities will be able to receive their money literally around the corner- without the need to travel a day to a bank branch in the city said Hans Boon, trust manager of HayPost.

Armenia is the first country of the Commonwealth of Independent States that joins Eurogiro - we are very happy with this expansion of Eurogiro's network and welcome HayPost ! commented Soren Rose, the Deputy Managing Director of Eurogiro Network.

Eurogiro active in the UN advisory Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors

The UN Advisory Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors recently issued a number of key messages. The aim of the group is to involve a large number of private and public institutions in the quest for improved access to financial services for the poor. For Eurogiro this initiative is of the highest importance. Firstly, because many of our members, such as postal/savings organisations, play an important part in providing financial inclusion for the poor. Secondly, because a key objective for Eurogiro is to improve interoperability for remittances globally not least to the benefit of immigrants with limited access to financial services.

Please click here to get a copy of the key messages.

Discussion paper from the World Bank on the Role of Postal Networks

The World Bank recently published a discussion paper providing a unique insight into the worldwide provision of postal financial services. It builds on the findings and conclusions of a study commissioned by the Global Information and Communication Technologies (GICT) Department of the World Bank and is a result of a multiyear effort by several groups of contributors.

The study comprises amongst others a review of about 60 developing countries in 5 regional landscapes, it gives a further in depth analysis of 7 specific countries like Egypt, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, etc. and identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the postal sector from a financial sector perspective and a communication sector perspective.

Please click here to get a copy of the discussion paper.

Polish Post has signed up with Eurogiro

We are very happy to announce that Polish Post has become the second Eurogiro member in Poland.

Eurogiro is happy to welcome Canada Post Corpotation as member

Canada Post delivers 40 million letters, parcels and electronic messages each day to approximately 32 million Canadians at more than 14 million addresses and over 1 million Canadian businesses from coast-to-coast. Incorporated in 1981, its approximately 71,000 full- and part-time employees and a network of approximately 7,000 post offices, the largest retail network in Canada, represent a trusted presence in communities across the country, and they have been for more than 150 years. In 2005, it earned net income of CDN$199 million on revenues of CDN$6.9 billion.

Xacbank from Mongolia has joined Eurogiro

We are very happy to announce that XacBank in Mongolia has joined the Eurogiro co-operation.

Albania Post has signed up with Eurogiro

We are very happy to announce that Albania Post (Posta Shqiptare sh.a.) has joined the Eurogiro co-operation, now counting 52 members providing close to 60 connections in 48 countries.

ANZ Bank in austraila joins Eurogiro

Eurogiro is happy to announce that ANZ Bank has joined the Eurogiro Network as the first Australian member.

WSBI and Eurogiro announce cooperation agreement in the field of remittances

The World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI) and Eurogiro today announced the conclusion of a cooperation agreement. The agreement focuses on joint marketing offers towards expanding the current Eurogiro remittances solutions as well as the Eufiserv ATM switching services.

Finance Engineering JSC from Bulgaria has signed up with Eurogiro

We are very happy to announce that Finance Engineering JSC in Bulgaria has joined the Eurogiro co-operation.

Eurogiro Single point of Settlemen also for USD

Eurogiro: The annual meeting for postal organisations and banks opens in Athens - Co-hosted by ELTA Hellenic Post, member since 2000

Copenhagen/Athens, 7 May 2012 - Tomorrow Eurogiro's annual Community Meeting will bring together more than 60 members of the Eurogiro network to share strategies for the development of the money transfer business throughout the world. Many payments made in Greece, and transferred rapidly and reliably to a beneficiary in another country, are likely to have been carried by Eurogiro, a community of important postal organisations, banks and networks in the international electronic payments business.

"The community is the backbone of Eurogiro and much business is initiated at the annual member meeting" confirms Søren Rose, CEO of the Copenhagen-based company. According to Mr. Rose the payments business has grown steadily, despite the current financial crisis, and Eurogiro has continuosly expanded its member base throughout the world, providing cost efficient and flexible payment services. Eurogiro members provide reach for payments to both urban and rural customers alike".

Eurogiro, founded in 1993 by twelve European postal organisations, is a commercial company whose aim it is to develop worldwide business relating to the cross-border payments of both retail and wholesale financial services. The Eurogiro community is the driving force behind all business developments. Over the past twenty years, the company has evolved from a platform of postal organisations and banks into a trusted partner at a global level, processing over 30 million payments every year.

ELTA Hellenic Post - a Eurogiro member since 2000 - is an active member and contributor within the Eurogiro community. "Hosting this year's Eurogiro Community Meeting is a great privilege, but also an important part of our strategy and our efforts to ensure that our customers are provided with an attractive offer for cross-border payment services" said Mr Christos Varsamis, President and CEO of the Hellenic Post S.A. "The implementation of Eurogiro electronic money orders enabled us to significantly accelarate the performance time of the service and to considerably improve its quality".
The most important corridors for Eurogiro incoming money orders to Greece for almost ten years now are: Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy.

In September 2010, Hellenic Post-ELTA launched the new Giro Account in cooperation with the National Clearing System through which customers can hold payment accounts (interest-free current accounts) and used exclusively for payment transactions. In this way ELTA can keep payment accounts in order to serve these financial activities.         

Ganart Technologies and Eurogiro sign a strategic partnership agreement to provide a solution that delivers financial services to “the last mile”´

The Strategic Partnership Agreement between Ganart Technologies and Eurogiro provides an end-to-end solution for postal and other financial organisations to deliver international payments and remittances as well as other financial services to the “last mile”.  For posts and other financial service providers that seek to reach the unbanked and underserved population in rural areas, the combination of the two companies’ technologies will provide fast, inexpensive, compliant and secure transactions to host-connected and unconnected rural postal branches.  “Trust, flexible technology and a menu of services tailored to the needs of this market are the elements that can change their world for the better," notes Webb Edwards, Co-Founder of Ganart Technologies.

For Eurogiro, the partnership complements its own charter to provide a secure, cost-efficient international payments and remittances system with Ganart’s “last mile” financial services technology solution to reach rural locations with a semi or fully self-service customer experience via a kiosk or other hardware device. “Ganart’s technology advantages are the perfect complement to the Eurogiro network and its community. It allows posts, as well as banks, the ability to provide financial services reach that aid in the financial inclusion agenda,” stated Tjeerd Rienstra, CEO Eurogiro.

Art Holbrook, CEO Ganart Technologies explained, “It has been the vision of Ganart to provide financial services to the world’s underserved population. With Eurogiro’s expansive postal network, we can collectively deliver a variety of financial services that have never before been offered, especially in non-urban areas that lack basic infrastructure systems. We are very much looking forward to working towards our common vision with Eurogiro.”

About Ganart Technologies
Ganart Technologies is a proprietary provider of reserved and compliant processing of information and transactions. Their money everywhere system is designed around serving the underserved with their Ganart Fusion Last Mile software solution, which has the ability to push a vast array of value exchange services to those in their unit network. This capability gives their customers consistency with their financial services systems from end to end (units to back-end). The Ganart solution reaches the entire financial pyramid, particularly the un-banked and under-banked. For more information visit www.ganart.com. Ganart Contact: Wayne McHugh, Managing Director, Ganart Technologies Inc., Phone: +1 603 930 8229, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Eurogiro removes cost of remittances by redesigning procedures in its community

Copenhagen, Oct. 26, 2010

Already now half of the Eurogiro members use the newly developed multi-lateral business framework to connect to each other in one step, covering everything from the technical connection to the service levels and standard business agreements. This enables Eurogiro, which organises payment specialists among posts, banks and money transmitters, to help the industry meet the goals of the World Bank to reduce payment costs for remitting immigrant workers. With its unrivalled branch network, posts can reach out to the unbanked population like no other financial organisation, and can share the benefits of cost savings directly with the poorest in the world. “It is a great leap forward for our community, and we are happy to support the UN in reducing poverty” says Mr. Tjeerd Rienstra, CEO of Eurogiro.

Sylvie Solignac Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eurogiro

Sylvie Solignac, La Banque Postale France, Chairman of the Eurogiro Board May 2011.

La Banque Postale (www.labanquepostale.fr)

La Banque Postale, the banking subsidiary of the La Poste group, is a unique and special bank operating in the French retail banking market. As an institution that is faithful to its core values: acting in the general interest, confidentiality and closeness to its customers, La Banque Postale puts welcoming all its customers at the heart of its business. It supports its retail and corporate customers by providing a sustainable banking relationship, with an accessible and reasonably-priced range of products and services. It is continually adding to its product range, specifically through relying on the expertise of its subsidiaries and partners, thus entering new areas. La Banque Postale is accessible 24/7, anywhere, any time.

Eurogiro:  The annual meeting on cross-border payment services for postal organisations and banks opens tomorrow in Warsaw

The meeting will be hosted by Poczta Polska SA – Member of Eurogiro since 2006

Copenhagen/Warsaw, 9 May 2011 – Tomorrow sees the opening of Eurogiro's annual Community Meeting, during which more than 60 members of the Eurogiro network, present in 48 countries, will come together to share strategies for the development of the money transfer business throughout the world. Many payments made in Poland and transferred rapidly and reliably to a beneficiary in another country are likely to have been carried out automatically by Eurogiro, a partner of important postal organisations, banks and networks in the international electronic payments business.
 

“It is our firm intention to see to it that members associate Eurogiro with “quality, easiness and user friendliness”, confirm Tjeerd Rienstra, CEO of the Copenhagen-based company. In Rienstra's view, this means guaranteeing that all cross-border payments can be rocessed simply, quickly, cost-effectively and having a REACH all over the world, even in rural areas.

Eurogiro, founded in 1993 by twelve European postal organisations, is a Danish commercial company whose aim is to support and develop worldwide business relating to cross-border payments related to retail and wholesale financial services. The Eurogiro community of members is the driver of business and new developments in cooperation with partners. Over the last twenty years, the company has evolved from a platform formed by postal organisations and banks into a trusted partner for cross-border payments at a global level, processing over 32 million transactions every year.
 

Poczta Polska S.A. – Eurogiro member since 2006 – is very active in this organisation and has its representative in the Eurogiro Customer Council.  

In the first quarter of 2011, the number of Eurogiro money orders sent abroad via Poczta Polska S.A. increased by almost 30% compared to the relevant period of the previous year. In comparison to the first quarter of 2008, the growth amounts to over 70%.
 

The most important corridors for the Eurogiro money orders sending from Poland are currently: France, Slovakia, Croatia and Italy as well as recently opened Germany and Vietnam.
 

In parallel to Eurogiro Community Meeting Poczta Polska S.A. launches the information campaign promoting its international money order service.

“I’m very pleased about the equity stake of Deutsche Bank. It confirms their commitment and confidence in Eurogiro’s remittances strategy to achieve global REACH “, says This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , CEO Eurogiro A/S.”

Deutsche Bank makes strategic investment in Eurogiro

Deutsche Bank's Global Transaction Banking division today announced that it has strengthened its ties with Eurogiro, a leading global payments network and community.  Eurogiro is the second largest network for cross-border payments with a focus on connecting the world's postal organizations, post banks, banks and other financial institutions. Deutsche Bank will take an 8% equity stake in the company.

Deutsche Bank has been engaged with Eurogiro for over 10 years and has established numerous long-term relationships with the Eurogiro community. The Bank is an acting board member of Eurogiro and also provides its members with US settlement services. This offering is currently being expanded to include multi-currency settlement services. For its part, Eurogiro provides Deutsche Bank with access to its global network of postal banks and postal organizations.

This latest strategic investment reinforces Deutsche Bank's commitment to the Eurogiro community and also to combining the Bank's existing offering with the reach of the Eurogiro network, thereby creating a unique product in the market.

Both parties stand to gain from Deutsche Bank's investment. Eurogiro will gain access to knowledge and support from a world-leading transaction bank while also ensuring financial flexibility to keep abreast with the latest developments in the payments market. Deutsche Bank, in turn, will combine its strong market position in payments and cash management with Eurogiro's unrivalled retail distribution power through the global postal network with a reach of over two billion individuals worldwide.

The ultimate beneficiaries of this partnership will be Deutsche Bank's Financial Institution clients. As Paul Camp, Head of Cash Management Financial Institutions at Deutsche Bank says, "Becoming a shareholder in Eurogiro perfectly supports our Global Remittance initiative. Clients will benefit from our existing product capabilities enhanced with the Eurogiro reach and functionality such as SMS advising. With minimal investment, our global clients can earn additional revenues as well as attract and retain customers with a new and improved remittance offering."

Armin Brun, chairman of Eurogiro and Deputy Head of Swiss Post PostFinance, adds, "As Chairman of Eurogiro, I welcome Deutsche Bank's continued and now significantly increased involvement with Eurogiro and with the Eurogiro community.  Deutsche Bank's investment underscores Eurogiro's unique market position and potential for growth. In my role as Head of Markets and Distribution for Swiss Post PostFinance, the largest provider of international payments in Switzerland, I have always valued our partnership and look forward to increasing our collaboration in part thanks to this mutual, close tie to the Eurogiro network".

Deutsche Bank
Global Transaction Banking 

Christoph Woermann   
+44(0) 207 545 4432  
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

About Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank is a leading global investment bank with a strong and profitable private clients franchise. A leader in Germany and Europe, the bank is continuously growing in North America, Asia and key emerging markets. With 78,530 employees in 72 countries, Deutsche Bank offers unparalleled financial services throughout the world. The bank competes to be the leading global provider of financial solutions for demanding clients creating exceptional value for its shareholders and people.

Press release

Taastrup, May 21, 2008

Eurogiro with new positioning

Press release