Throughout July and August 2007, BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria), Deutsche Bank and Fortis executed a comprehensive program including testing outbound messages in order to ensure the ability of their application to generate SEPA payments as well as inbound messages to check the robustness of their payment engine when receiving valid and invalid SEPA payment messages. As part of this testing, various tools and procedures designed within the context of the SEPA testing program were used. These included Smart Test Messages, SWIFT Testing and Qualification Service (STaQS) as well as reference data directories.
As a result of these tests, BBVA, Deutsche Bank and Fortis confidently announce that they are fully ready to send and receive SEPA compliant credit transfer payments. They have not only demonstrated to the SEPA community their commitment to a rigorous implementation of SEPA, but also their ability to lead, showing the value of using a common testing platform. The three banks are, together with other major financial institutions, at the origin of the SEPA testing program.
Andrew England, head of product management, cash management, global transaction banking at Deutsche Bank, said: From the outset, the objective of the SEPA Testing Program has been to ensure that the SEPA formats will work throughout the SEPA market place without country restrictions. The tools are now available to all financial institutions and market infrastructures. Everyone can now contribute to an efficient and cost-effective implementation of SEPA products.
