NiPost and Eurogiro join forces

NiPost and Eurogiro join forces to advance in bringing migrant's money sent home: Last mile delivery of remittances in rural Nigeria.

Read the full story: NiPost Eurogiro press release

Inpay acquires Eurogiro

The leading postal payments network Eurogiro A/S, has joined forces with the licensed FinTech company Inpay A/S, which will bring continuity, innovation and exciting growth opportunities to all Eurogiro members.

Read the full story: Inpay Eurogiro press release

Wari and Eurogiro announce a partnership where both payment hubs gain extended reach to new regions.

Wari and Eurogiro signed their partnership on January 9th 2017. The two payment platforms are complementary and the collaboration will enable users of the networks to take their business into new regions and drive their agendas towards fostering digitalized payments and remittances.

Read the full story: Wari Eurogiro Pressrelase

Website: http://www.wari.com
About Wari leadership: http://ceo.wari.com
Wari Communications Contact: Awa DIA- [email protected]

Eurogiro and TransferTo join forces to link mobile money with 500,000 bank and postal branches

London, 3 October, 2016 –TransferTo, the leading B2B mobile payment network, and Eurogiro, a global payments network, have connected to provide access to Eurogiro members to transfer money to mobile money and bank accounts through the TransferTo payments network.

Eurogiro is a global payments network connecting member payments ecosystems, such as postal branches and banks. Eurogiro members reach more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries.

Members of Eurogiro’s network can expand their service offerings by offering Mobile Money, which is powering growth in many emerging markets. A Eurogiro member in Ukraine can now accept remittances at a post office and transfer the funds to a recipient in Philippines, who will receive the transfer in his mobile wallet. Similarly, as part of the partnership, TransferTo partners will also be able to send money to Eurogiro members across the globe.

Eric Barbier, CEO of TransferTo, says, “post offices and banks globally are a major channel for money transfer. Eurogiro’s wide distribution of urban and rural member branches will provide flexibility to consumers, to use physical outlets, cash and mobile money in the manner that they are most comfortable with.”

Michel Stuijt, CEO at Eurogiro says, “Mobile is the future and TransferTo is helping us bring mobile payments into the mix of our member service offerings. By combining forces, we get an excellent interface into mobile wallets around the world. The quick availability and simplicity of connecting with TransferTo made this a very easy decision.”

TransferTo is a global leader in cross border B2B mobile payments, interconnecting the world’s leading mobile operators and financial institutions to enable secure cross-border mobile money and airtime transfers worldwide.

- ENDS -

About TransferTo

TransferTo is a B2B mobile payment network, interconnecting financial institutions and mobile operators globally. Thousands of leading companies, including Vodafone’s M-Pesa, Tigo Money, Orange, Western Union, PayPal and Xoom rely on TransferTo’s Mobile Money and Airtime Hub.

TransferTo provides its partners with a global compliance framework for all relevant regulatory requirements, enabling thousands of businesses in more than 100 countries to offer real-time Mobile Money and Airtime transfer services to their customers. In 2015 alone, TransferTo Mobile Money and Airtime Hub processed more than 50 million transactions.

Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, TransferTo links more than 4.5 billion mobile users, through partnerships with more than 400 mobile operators. Its investors include Ingenico.  For more information, please visit:https://www.transfer-to.com/

About Eurogiro

Eurogiro is a payments infrastructure that connects different organisations and payment ‘ecosystems’ and facilitates business ventures among its members consisting of over 60 posts, banks and other financial institutions around the world. It allows its members to explore and develop business opportunities with other Eurogiro members that share a common goal of providing secure, transparent and cost-efficient payment solutions for their clients around the world.

Members connect to the highly flexible network and may tap other Eurogiro members that combined reach more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries. Eurogiro runs a SWIFT Closed usergroup.

Eurogiro was founded in 1993 by a group of European Postal institutions and its head quarter is in Copenhagen, Denmark, with an office in Manila. Please visit:www.eurogiro.com

Michel Stuijt, CEO Eurogiro, [email protected]

Ground-breaking payments to China – China UnionPay affiliate, LVG, becomes new Eurogiro member 

Copenhagen / Manila 1 October 2014 - Eurogiro has signed a membership agreement with China UnionPay’s exclusive affiliate, Lucky Ventures Group (LVG), to provide one of the most innovative payment services to China today. This payment service to China is available to over 60 banks and postal members of the Eurogiro payments community and can be accessed via the SWIFT-Eurogiro Closed User Group.

Michel Stuijt, CEO of Eurogiro said: “We are very pleased to have signed with LVG and China UnionPay to offer this truly unique and innovative payment service to China. Enabling account transfers to all accounts in China is in high demand and Eurogiro members will be able to transfer credit payments using the Eurogiro network and messaging standards.”

Peter Lok, CEO of LVG Ltd, said: “We are pleased to be the newest member of the Eurogiro payments community. The key to the success of our payment service to China will be our membership in the Eurogiro payments community, as well as our exclusive arrangement with China Union Pay and its subsidiary, Guangzhou Unionpay Network Payment Company (GZ CUP). CUP is one of the largest payment gateways into China and has the ability to deposit payments into all bank accounts in China. Currently CUP has over 1.4 billion cardholders and issues over 5 billion cards”.

The service is unmatched in the industry and includes:

• Reach to any account in China
• No threshold ceiling, only a limitation of USD 200,000 per transaction - the standard for remittance payment providers of payments to China is a USD 50,000 limit per year in sending volume
• Real time RMB conversion of multiple currencies into RMB
• RMB funds sent directly to recipients

Further development of the payments program includes offering an enhanced e-commerce payments platform and the use of tax exempt Free Trade Zone facilities for merchants for their logistics and payment needs.

Gene Gutierrez, Regional Director, Asia Pacific for Eurogiro says “The Eurogiro payment service to China is designed to be simple and fast. Eurogiro members using the Eurogiro network can immediately use the service. They will send payments through the Eurogiro network to LVG. LVG, using the CUP intermediary bank in Hong Kong, will conduct the foreign currency conversion and deposit the funds into any account in China. The transfer is fast- almost real time once the payment instruction is received and the funding is in place in the settlement account”.

The foreign remit partner maintains a USD pre-funding account at the HKG settlement bank (which is a CUP Affiliate Financial Institution). The foreign remit partner also has a RMB pre-funding account. This RMB account will be topped up periodically from the USD pre-funding account and will be used to fund the remittance pay-out in RMB to the beneficiary account.  

About Eurogiro

Eurogiro is a payments network that connects different organisations and payment “ecosystems” and facilitates business ventures amongst its members consisting of over 60 posts, banks and other financial institutions around the world. The Eurogiro payments community drives business development for the benefit of members that share a common goal of providing secure, transparent and cost-efficient payment solutions for their clients. Members connect to the highly flexible network and may tap other Eurogiro members that have a combined reach of more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries. Eurogiro was founded in 1993 by 14 European postal organisations and is today a trusted partner on a global level.

About LVG Ltd.

LVG has its head office and principal business in Hong Kong. GZ CUP, a State-owned enterprise in China under the administration of the People’s Bank of China and Ministry of Finance of the Government of People’s Republic of China, has appointed LVG and endorsed it as the offshore RMB settlement partner for the overseas market. GZ CUP and LVG cooperate to conduct international cross-border payment business, including both inflow and outflow of RMB transfer and exchange services.

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Michel Stuijt, CEO Eurogiro, [email protected]

Gene Gutierrez, Regional Director, Asia Pacific Eurogiro, [email protected]

Peter Lok, CEO LVG, Ltd (exclusive affiliate of China Union Pay), [email protected]

Western Union expands long-term Eurogiro Relationship 

Western Union offered by Eurogiro’s 52,000 locations across 30 countries

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. September 9, 2014 -- The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, extended its exclusive agreement with Eurogiro, with scope to allow its members greater access to the full range of Western Union Money Transfer^® services including digital offerings.

Eurogiro is a global payment network for national postal organisations, post banks, commercial banks and other payment service providers. The agreement extends a16-year collaboration.

Eurogiro offers the exclusive Western Union^® money-in-minutes service – as part of a portfolio of cross border payment services to 35 of its members. These members represent 52,000 Agent locations across 30 countries.

Odilon Almeida, President, Americas and European Union, said: “The extension of this long tenured relationship is a testament to the value brought by Western Union to Eurogiro’s members, banks, post offices and payment providers in major regional hubs across in the world”.

“Western Union’s global footprint of nearly half a million locations[i] connects Eurogiro’s member institutions to every corner of the world - urban and rural.

“Working together – we are keen to enhance services to Eurogiro's members to facilitate more choice as consumer preference for both cash and cashless money transfers grows.

Today, Western Union is harnessing its system with modifications to link cash and digital transfers between retail Agent locations, mobile phones, prepaid cards, online and traditional bank accounts and ATM.

“While cash has a strong preference to instantly fund spending; some of our existing customers as well as new customers have evolving preferences. They also want choice of cashless transactions with the same speed of money-in –minutes,” said Almeida.

Eurogiro was founded by a group of European postal organizations focused on improving cross-border payments for customers, providing connectivity and payment services to its membership community of financial institutions.

Michel Stuijt, Eurogiro CEO said, “This agreement honors the great contributions over the years by Eurogiro members to Western Union in attracting and servicing customers with a need to send or to collect funds wherever they are”.

“The Western Union urgent cash service has been a premium and highly valued addition to the basic services which Eurogiro members have in their payment portfolio. We have a common goal of providing excellent services to non-banked people and maintaining a dense branch network close to the customers in both urban and rural areas all over the world”, he added.

The Western Union global money transfer platform moved an average of 29 transactions per second across the world in 2013.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of June 30, 2014, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs. In 2013, The Western Union Company completed 242 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 459 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com .

About Eurogiro

Eurogiro is a payments network that connects different organisations and payment ‘ecosystems’ and espouses business ventures among its members consisting of over 60 posts, banks and other financial institutions around the world. It allows its members to explore and develop business opportunities with other Eurogiro members that share a common goal of providing secure, transparent and cost-efficient payment solutions for their clients around the world. Members connect to the highly flexible network and may tap other Eurogiro members that combined reach more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries. Eurogiro was founded in 1993 by a group of European Postal institutions and its head quarter is in Copenhagen, Denmark, with an office in Manila. www.eurogiro.com

For further information please call :

Western Union Americas and European Union:
Pia De Lima : +1 954 260 5732 / [email protected]

Western Union Northern and Western Europe:

Mark Godson : 44 (0)208 576 57730 / [email protected]

Western Union Central and Southern Europe :

Sabine Fischer : +43 15 013-4535 / [email protected]

Earthport Joins the Eurogiro Network to Provide its Global
Payments Service to Members
As a Eurogiro member Earthport will be able to expand its low value clearing services for payments into the accounts of Eurogiro community members

London, UK, 21 July 2014 – Earthport has signed a membership agreement to partner on the Eurogiro infrastructure, extending services to Eurogiro members for international low value clearing to the 60 countries where Earthport facilitates local payments, and enabling Earthport to connect to Eurogiro members’ extensive client base.

Eurogiro provides connectivity and payment services, mostly within account to account transfers and cash payments, to its membership community of financial institutions. Earthport brings to the community its efficient, transparent, secure, and multi-currency international payments service.

Eurogiro was founded by a group of European postal organisations focused on improving cross-border payments for their customers. It operates a low value – high volume payments system based on Straight Through Processing (STP), transparency and secure cost-efficiency in all parts of the payment chain. Its reach is now global and includes partnerships with a variety of payment systems and a range of payment methods. Adding Earthport’s capabilities to the network means that members will benefit from reach into additional markets and account types.

Michel Stuijt, CEO at Eurogiro, commented: “Having Earthport join as a member is a very valuable addition to the Eurogiro community. Earthport’s business model cuts cost and adds efficiency to traditional correspondent banking methods by tapping direct into the national clearing systems for account transfers. The connection to Earthport provides, especially for our postal members, a great opportunity to expand out-bound as well as in-bound business.”  

Paul Thomas, Executive Director at Earthport said: “We are proud to join Eurogiro and excited to be able to add value to corporate and consumer clients of the membership community. Over the next few months we will be working with Eurogiro to integrate our networks and promote our transparent international payments service to members. As well as providing Eurogiro members the benefits of low value clearing, Earthport also plans to provide value to its own financial institution clients by extending its clearing network to postal accounts through Eurogiro member agreements.”

Earthport provides a robust, electronic white-label service for banks and other payments service providers to make cross-border payments that benefit from greater transparency. Across six continents Earthport reaches over 60 countries directly through local clearing capabilities with many more in the pipeline and a further 140 through traditional methods.

About Eurogiro
Eurogiro is a payments network that connects different organisations and payment ‘ecosystems’ and espouses business ventures among its members consisting of over 60 posts, banks and other financial institutions around the world. It allows its members to explore and develop business opportunities with other Eurogiro members that share a common goal of providing secure, transparent and cost-efficient payment solutions for their clients around the world. Members connect to the highly flexible network and may tap other Eurogiro members that combined reach more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries. Eurogiro runs a SWIFT Closed usergroup and connects to Ericsson Mobile Money Services AB. Eurogiro was founded in 1993 by a group of European Postal institutions and its head quarter is in Copenhagen, Denmark, with an office in Manila. www.eurogiro.com

About Earthport
Earthport plc, a regulated global financial services organisation, specialises in the provision of a white label cross-border payments service.

Through its innovative payments framework, specifically designed for high volumes of low value cross-border payments, Earthport provides a cost-effective and transparent service for secure international payments. Earthport’s clients include banks, money transfer organisations, payment aggregators, e-commerce and foreign exchange businesses. Through Earthport’s well established payments infrastructure, clients can clear and settle payments directly to banked beneficiaries in 60 countries.

The company is headquartered in London and is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the London Stock Exchange. It operates globally with additional regional offices in Dubai and New York. Earthport plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Service Regulations 2009 for the provision of payment services. To learn more, please visit www.earthport.com and follow us via RSS or on social channels, Twitter @Earthport , LinkedIn , Youtube and Slideshare .

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Media Contact:
Terri Bloore, Finn Partners
T: +44 207 148 4401
E: [email protected]

Michel Stuijt, CEO, Eurogiro [email protected]

Ericsson partners with Eurogiro to build global M-Commerce Interconnect service

• Adds to global scope and flexibility of Ericsson´s M-Commerce solutions
• Agreement covers more than 60 major banking groups and postal organizations within Eurogiro network
• Total reach to more than 500,000 branch offices in all regions of the world

In a significant step towards its goal of providing the world’s most complete and flexible Mobile Commerce service, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today announced a partnership with Eurogiro that will allow more than 60 major banking groups and postal organizations worldwide to transact across the company’s M-Commerce Interconnect service.

The Interconnect service is designed to allow multiple transaction paths between different sending and receiving devices and destinations. It will provide an interconnect path to and from banks and other payment service providers, money transfer organizations, mobile network operators and mobile handsets.

By creating one technical and commercial interface, the Ericsson M-Commerce Interconnect service makes it possible for a mobile device to receive a payment from a payment service provider and immediately transfer that payment to a bank.

Announcing the Eurogiro partnership, Ericsson’s Björn Engström, Head of M-Commerce, Ericsson said: “Increasing the interoperability between the varied and growing number of mobile money transfer solutions through our M-Commerce Interconnect service will give our operator customers the stability and security these financial transactions deserve and demand.”

“Our partnership with Eurogiro allows us to offer real-time payment routing, reliable and secure foreign exchange, and world-class banking clearance and settlement all within a strict regulatory environment,” Engström added.

Welcoming the partnership, Eurogiro’s CEO Michel Stuijt said: “By partnering with Ericsson the Eurogiro members can add to their client offering a reach to mobile wallets with the secure and cost efficient processing for which Eurogiro is renowned. This is fully in line with our strategy to enable our members to connect to any major payment infrastructure via Eurogiro. The mobile payments market is growing rapidly and our partnership offers a trusted global partner network.”

Ericsson's M-Commerce services portfolio is designed to unlock the potential of the mobile wallet, fast-track operators' time to market for launching mobile financial services and support the rapid adoption of m-commerce by their subscribers. 

About Ericsson

Ericsson is the world's leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.

Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today more than 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers’ networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscribers. 

We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000 people. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011 the company had revenues of SEK 226.9 billion (USD 35.0 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.

www.ericsson.com
www.twitter.com/ericssonpress
www.facebook.com/technologyforgood
www.youtube.com/ericssonpress

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

   Ericsson Corporate Public & Media Relations
   Phone: +46 10 719 69 92
   E-mail: [email protected]

   Ericsson Investor Relations
   Telefon: +46 10 719 00 00
   E-post: [email protected]

Eurogiro A/S:

   Michel Stuijt, CEO, [email protected]

   Uwe Holmsgaard, Director IT, [email protected]

Eurogiro annual meeting for organisations specialising in payments opens in Budapest

• Cross-border payment specialists from more than 45 organisations around the globe will shortly meet to exchange best practice and discuss the future of cross-border payments.
• Posts, banks, MTOs, central banks, consultants, partners such as Western Union and UPU are among the participants.

Copenhagen, 13 May 2013

Tomorrow, in Budapest, Hungary, Eurogiro's annual Community Meeting will bring together more than 100 delegates of the Eurogiro network to share strategies for the development of the money transfer business throughout the world.

Many payments made in Hungary, and transferred rapidly and reliably to a beneficiary in another country, are likely to have been carried by Eurogiro.

"The community is the backbone of Eurogiro and much business is initiated at the annual member meeting" confirms Michel Stuijt, CEO of the Copenhagen-based company. According to Mr. Stuijt the payments business has grown steadily, currently in particular outside Europe. Eurogiro has continuously 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 manages its own network and links to SWIFT and carries any type of secure and cost efficient payment, be they account transfers and cash payments, workers' remittances, commercial payments, public payments etc. and is ready for payments for mobiles and cards.

Eurogiro celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2013. Eurogiro started as a European payment network, but today the focus for Eurogiro is to continue its global expansion and retain a high level of satisfaction amongst all of 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:

Michel Stuijt, CEO, [email protected]

Annelise Lysdal, Director Marketing & Products, [email protected]

Michel Stuijt appointed as new CEO of Eurogiro

On April 1^st 2013 Michel Stuijt took up the post as CEO of Eurogiro.

New Eurogiro CEO, Michel Stuijt, from 1st of April 2013

Michel Stuijt comes from a position as General Manager - Market Management at Equens and is well known within the payments arena, with more than 25 years of corporate banking and payment experience.

Sylvie Solignac, Eurogiro Board Chairman, said 'Eurogiro will be well looked after with Michel Stuijt at the helm. Michel has both the personality and the expertise from banking, payments and IT which Eurogiro needs to expand its reach and services".
 
"Trend-setting processing standards and settlement arrangements, plus a unique mix of member organisations and payment experts" says Michel Stuijt " is how Eurogiro has forged new roads in the past and I am keen to lead Eurogiro in taking this strategy to a new level, in close cooperation with members, partners and the Eurogiro team".

Eurogiro embraces financial institutions of many kinds as members of its network - posts, small and large banks, post banks, other payments service providers and mobile operators. This diverse membership is unique to Eurogiro and allow members access to the largest branch network in the world.  
 
Members use Eurogiro to provide all methods of payment product to their clients, be it cash payments or account-to-account transfers, initiated from any channel which the client prefers. Many transactions are pensions and workers' remittances. Members share a strategy of creating a competitive advantage by insisting on cost efficiency, transparency and fairness in their payment services.

Eurogiro celebrates its 20^th anniversary in 2013. Eurogiro started as a European payment network, but today the focus for Eurogiro is to continue its global expansion and retain a high level of satisfaction amongst all of 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.




 

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]

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.         

Sylvie Solignac was elected as chairman of the Board of Directors on 10 May 2011.

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

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. However, Sylvie Solignac was already a key person in the foundation of Eurogiro in the early nineties. As Marketing Manager of International Services at La Poste in France, she was La Poste’s representative in the Eurogiro Steering Committee. Since then, Sylvie Solignac headed the Paris Giro Centre (which executes large bulks of domestic payments) and has been closely involved in the agreement process of the French postbank.

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 succeeds Armin Brun, Swiss Post, PostFinance as chairperson in the Board. “Armin Brun” says Sylvie Solignac “was an excellent chairman of Eurogiro. In his two years term, Eurogiro expanded its global reach especially in Asia, introduced the first multilateral agreement framework in correspondent banking, and moved to become a carrier of SEPA payments next to maintaining its global payments & remittance portfolio. The support from Swiss Post under the chairmanship of Armin Brun was extraordinary. Being one of the largest senders in Eurogiro, Swiss Post supported the business development in many ways, participating in most community working groups, sharing experts with the Eurogiro company in many levels. Armin Brun has been an open-minded, very competent and engaged chairman”. 

Quoting the Eurogiro CEO, Tjeerd Rienstra, "Sylvie Solignac has the perfect profile to develop and lead Eurogiro in its mission to be the bridge between banks and posts across the globe". Her organisation has been transformed from post to bank, its international business been developed under her lead and she has very strong relations to postal organisations and banks. She can bring Eurogiro forwards in a period where the posts can be a critical factor in growing workers’ remittances around the globe, making formal channel more attractive by offering trust, good products and local presence.

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.

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.