Customer stories

These are fast times, and Belgian bank and insurance company Argenta is accelerating its services to match them. Looking to update its money exchange and purchase services to a new Instant Payment system, which allows transfers to take place in a matter of seconds rather than days, Argenta turned to its trusted partner of more than twenty years, Sopra Banking Software, for a solution. There were technical challenges mutualizing a solution for both firms, with the two ultimately opting for a "Managed Service" approach: the Belgian bank folded our Instant Payment software into its own core banking platform on a subscription-style basis. This approach is not only beneficial from a TCO point of view, but it's also proven to increase collaboration between participants. There were also other stakeholders to consider in the project, with much research and development for the new technology taking place externally in Brussels, and with collaboration of other banks also needed for the project to be fully realized. The success of the project meant that Argenta became one of the first banks to offer Instant Payments to its customers. The bank now performs as one of the best in class, processing high volumes and automatically handling all outgoing payments encoded with the mobile app as Instant Payments without charging a fee. More than 1 million payments are now successfully treated each month. SBS was the obvious choice for Argenta to help clear these hurdles, given the long-standing A B O U T T H E C U STO M E R K E Y FACT S A B O U T P R OJ ECT K E Y STAT S • Argenta is Belgium's fifth largest banking institution • Founded: 1956 • Based: Antwerp, Belgium • Offers retail financial services for families in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg • 890,348 outgoing Instant Payments from Argenta accounts in October 2019, and 274.880 payments received • Average end-to-end response time of our solution is around 400 milliseconds • More than 1 million payments are now successfully treated each month CHALLENGE To implement Instant Payment system, as well as PSD2 compliance SOLUTION Sopra Banking Software's Instant Payments and DBEP solutions "Sopra Banking Software has helped us to stay ahead of the curve in digital developments, while also remaining fully compliant with the latest in banking regulations. Over the years, they've constantly proved themselves to be a valuable partner in helping us deliver the best products and services to our customers."

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