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Eurogiro News 9
24 hours response time for queries new standard
From 1 July 2012, Eurogiro members will respond to a query within 24 hours – if feasible with a final
answer. The Operational Advisory Group has pushed to improve processing quality even further in
order to support the competitive strength of members and to reduce costs of exception handling
Any Eurogiro member must respond to a
query from other members within 24 hours.
Furthermore, this answer must be a final
answer if the Eurogiro member has all in-
formation in-house. Else, the member must
pass on the query to the third institution
which has all that information and inform
the sender of the query that it has done
so. This is seen as a very positive move
forward in the community. The number
of queries has reduced in recent years,
and the quality of handling queries has
improved, so the community is ready for the
next step. It will give comfort to members
when shaping their services to clients and
bring the quality on a par with the ‘best of
breed’ in the industry.
The Eurogiro community agreed to tighten
its quality requirements even further in
order to improve the service level towards
each other and to avoid the costs of repeti-
tive queries regarding the same issue. The
new regime also simplifies rules within the
community, as the MultiLateral Framework
used by a large group of members has
already had the 24 hour response time as a
rule since its launch in 2009. The decision
was taken in 2011 and included a 12 month
implementation time, concluding with the
implementation deadline of 1 July 2012.
Query numbers have significantly reduced
in Eurogiro in recent years, despite growing
transaction numbers. Explanations for this
are several. The consistent and very good
Straight Through Rates in Eurogiro, at
around 98% for cash and account transac-
tions alike, make up part of the explanation,
but also the Track & Trace service for the
Eurogiro Cash International
®
, which makes
many queries obsolete, is a contributing
factor.
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Steady testing has produced on-going quality
improvements
Since its inception in the early nineties, Eurogiro has staged regular quality tests amongst members.
The result has been not only a continuous improvement in processing quality, but also an increased
focus on removing any reasons for quality breeches and much co-operation amongst members
The ultimate beneficiaries of the consistent
quality improvement are, of course, the
clients of Eurogiro members. Confidence
in good quality generates business and
competitive strength. However, there are
also more tangible gains. Straight Through
Rates for credits, as well as cash pay-
ments, at around 98% translate directly
into fewer enquiries and repairs and thus
into lower production costs. Transparency
as to how partners achieve the targets on
processing timeframes enables financial
institutions to approach issues directly,
and to direct business to the most suitable
partner. Most members participate and
appreciate the value it generates, even if
the actual work involved is mostly manual
and somewhat demanding.
Regular testing has also generated value
for the Eurogiro community. Records of
quality test results form an excellent basis
for general improvements in processing
standards, and the Operational Advisory
Group, the Eurogiro working group which
monitors the test schemes and test re-
sults, has introduced a series of tougher
requirements based on the test results.
These have all been enforced in close
co-operation with members, usually after
close monitoring and training sessions.
The latest improvement in standards is
the reduction in the acceptable query
response time to 24 hours, which comes
into force on 1 July 2012.
The quality test regime is a unique
advantage of a closed community with
a neutral service bureau at its disposal.
The Eurogiro company in Copenhagen
arranges testing and produces the reports,
and members participate and discuss
quality issues that may arise. Community
meetings are used to learn from members’
best practice in organising quality improve-
ments. And, when the time is ripe, the
community undertakes new steps to raise
the bar for quality requirements. A truly
virtuous circle.
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