- A group of leading banks in the Republic of Ireland have announced a new collaboration with each other and with the Italian financial technology organisation Sia.
- The group will work to provide a remittance and online money transfer service for customers across Ireland.
- Banks on the list include a number of well-recognised names on the Irish financial services scene, including Bank of Ireland and KBC Bank Ireland.
A consortium of leading Irish financial services institutions has announced the commencement of a project offering real-time online money transfer options for people in the country.
The banks have joined up with Sia, which is supported in part by the Italian government’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) investment branch, for the new service.
Banks on the list include well-known names that are popular on high streets across Ireland, such as Bank of Ireland.
Others include Permanent TSB and AIB.
KBC Bank Ireland completes the list.
Ulster Bank is also considering participating in the future, though it is not currently part of the group.
The money transfer service that the organisations will offer together is expected to take the form of a mobile phone app, and is understood to have been named ‘Synch Payments’.
Sia is currently undergoing a merger with the Italian payments organisation Nexi.
However, the plan to cooperate with banks in the Republic of Ireland is not quite finalised yet.
The organisations will still need to sign on the dotted line once more preparation has occurred.
They will also need to get approval from an Irish regulator called the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
Synch Payments has been put together by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland trade body.
It is believed that this will be the first proper high-level financial services collaboration between a number of Irish institutions for decades.
The last time that it happened was the arrival of the so-called Laser bank card, which took place during the 1990s.
That, however, has now left use due to a move by the banks involved to work with one of the major international card providers Mastercard or Visa.
There has been much discussion in the Irish press about the new app, and especially how it interacts with the needs of the participating organisations.
One article pointed out that Ulster Bank’s lack of participation comes against a backdrop of the company’s parent organisation, NatWest, debating big changes for its Irish presence.
That, however, is not believed to have been a factor in the choice to avoid participating in this service.
It is understood that the initial consortium could also open up to non-bank organisations.
Credit unions are one sort of institution expected to be asked.
Financial technology, or fintech, companies could also be asked.
To learn more about what banks and financial services groups in the international money transfers space are up to, just head over to our reviews pages and read some more details.
