20 years of Eurogiro - a special setup within cross-border payments
On the 5th February 2013, a unique company within the payments industry celebrates its 20th anniversary. Eurogiro is an electronic payments network, a community of financial institutions, a product and service standard, and a private company. All at the same time.
Today Eurogiro embraces financial institutions of many kinds as members of its network - posts, post banks, small and large banks, other payment service providers and mobile operators. Members use Eurogiro to provide any kind of payment product to their clients, be it cash payments or account-to-account transfers initiated from any channel the client prefers. What they have in common is the strategy to create a competitive advantage by insisting on cost efficiency, transparency and fairness in their payment services.
Eurogiro will celebrate some innovative successes achieved over its first 20 years:
- It made a joint, electronic payments' network, opened it to posts as well as banks and furnished it with a unique bulking architecture that secured very low production costs and high levels of automation. Later it pioneered secure payments using Internet and open source software. The network was used to eliminate paper-based transactions adn manual routines amongst members and this is still a relevant purpose in some parts of the world.
- It introduced joint credits and cash payments with market-leading transparency in speed, charging and foreign exchange rates. With the introduction of the EUR, Eurogiro created a unique single point of settlement service that removed a large part of the costs of settling cross-border payments. With SEPA, a great part of Europe became one domestic market and the EPC and EBA eventually took over much of the former intra-Europe cross-border traffic. Eurogiro continues to focus on cross-border traffic, with and without one leg in Europe.
- It provides un-matched reach to a unique blend of financial institutions across the world who have in common that they are committed payment handlers. Many members have the largest branch network within their country, and many have a comparably large group of account holders both retail, corporate and public clients. Several Eurogiro members specialize in handling large amount of payments at a time, for instance pension payments. Many are driving forces of financial inclusion within their community. Whilst the reach has grown from the initial 14 European countries to 53 countries in January 2013, it is top priority for Eurogiro to expand its reach.
- It established an office in Singapore in 2007 to provide regional support to Asia Pacific members, and further develop business in the region.
- It formed a very efficient partnership between Western Union, Eurogiro, and Eurogiro members for same-day cash payments. This was amongst the first of the cross-industry partnerships, signed in 1998 and renewed several times, and combined the market-leading service of Western Union with the un-matched postal branch network. Eurogiro later added long-lasting partnerships with SWIFT and UPU. Eurogiro also proved its willingness to cover new land by embarking on partnerships that proved temporary but nevertheless very useful, such as with VISA and FED. More are planned.
The diverse membership within Eurogiro is united by a shared aim to cooperate in creating a common network that each member can use flexibly towards its clients. They base this on a set of common rules and agreements. The Eurogiro owners have re-invested all profit generated back into the company to enhance this network and most members have contributed over time towards the shaping of Eurogiro as it is today. As a result, the company in Copenhagen has remained small, with only 14 employees. This is a key part of the strength of Eurogiro.
Transparency and cost-efficiency in cross-border payments was not standard business in Europe, or anywhere else, when Eurogiro was formed in the early 1990s. In contrast to cross-border payments, domestic payments were cost-efficient, their speed was known, and their procedures were automated and quite often these payment systems were giro-systems. The founders of Eurogiro, 14 posts and postbanks within western Europe, were convinced that they could increase their competitive position by building a domestic-like payment service between their individual countries and thereby offer their customers domestic-like services for cross-border payments. Each had a long record of being a vehicle for financial inclusion in their country and each was offering cost-efficient payment services to every type of customer. They also had a strong tradition for cooperation, even on products and services. At that time, this was unique in Europe and to achieve something like this is still an attractive target in other areas of the world.
Eurogiro was, from the start, a network for exchange of electronic cross-border payments, a product and processing standard, and a community within which to create business opportunities. This is still in the Eurogiro DNA.
Today the focus of Eurogiro is to continue its global expansion and retain a high level of satisfaction amongst all its members.
Eurogiro, founded in 1993 by 14 European postal organisations, is a commercial company and a collaboration whose aim it is to develop worldwide business relating to the cross-border payments of both retail and wholesale financial services for the benefit of its members. The Eurogiro community of financial institutions 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 on a global level, processing over 30 million cross-border payments every year, reaching more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries.
Eurogiro employs 14 people directly and has its head office in Copenhagen, Denmark and a branch in Singapore.
Contacts at Eurogiro:
Søren Rose, CEO, [email protected]
Annelise Lysdal, Director Marketing & Products, [email protected]