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Integration of Payment Services in Europe and Consolidation<br />
of Cash Distribution Structures in Austria<br />
ARTIS payments<br />
in <strong>2004</strong><br />
Central government<br />
sends payment orders<br />
to OeNB via SWIFT<br />
OeNB takes antimoney<br />
laundering<br />
action<br />
Smooth Transition to<br />
SWIFTNet FIN<br />
many, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia<br />
and Slovenia were using the<br />
OeNBÕs STEP2 access point. In addition,<br />
SlovakiaÕs Na«rodna« bankaSlovenska<br />
became the first central bank<br />
with the status of an indirect STEP2<br />
participant. The OeNBÕs average<br />
daily STEP2 transaction volume<br />
more than tripled over the course<br />
of <strong>2004</strong>.<br />
With its STEP2 access, the OeNB<br />
— in cooperation with the banking industry<br />
— has succeeded in providing a<br />
solution that secures Austrian banksÕ<br />
competitiveness also in the field of<br />
cashless payments, having earlier enhanced<br />
cash logistics with the establishment<br />
of the cash services company<br />
GELDSERVICE AUSTRIA Logistik<br />
fu‹r Wertgestionierung und<br />
Transportkoordination G.m.b.H.<br />
ARTIS/TARGET 6 —New<br />
Developments in Large-Value<br />
Payment Systems<br />
Acting as a role model for the Austrian<br />
financial market, the OeNB decided<br />
to support Austrian banks in<br />
combating money laundering and terrorist<br />
financing by implementing a<br />
transaction monitoring system designed<br />
to ensure compliance with embargo<br />
guidelines. The legal basis in<br />
this respect was laid down by the Austrian<br />
government and the European<br />
Parliament. While not obliged to<br />
meet the provisions on money laundering<br />
and terrorist financing owing<br />
to its special status under the Austrian<br />
Banking Act, the OeNB nevertheless<br />
resolved to introduce precautionary<br />
measures to this end.<br />
All relevant data on payment orders<br />
received by the OeNB are automatically<br />
checked prior to processing.<br />
This measure represents another<br />
majorsteptowardpreventingmisuse<br />
of the payment systems infrastructure<br />
made available by the OeNB.<br />
In 1999, when the Austrian realtime<br />
gross settlement (RTGS) system<br />
ARTIS was launched, an average of<br />
3,339 transactions with an average total<br />
value of EUR 8 billion were processedonadailybasis.In<strong>2004</strong>,the<br />
daily volume increased to 6,019 transactions<br />
worth EUR 10.3 billion,<br />
which corresponds to an increase by<br />
80.3% in volume and by 28.8% in<br />
value. Year on year, the transaction<br />
volume augmented by close to 10%<br />
in <strong>2004</strong>, while the value remained<br />
more or less unchanged.<br />
As from September 8, 2003, the<br />
Austrian Federal Financing Agency,<br />
a SWIFT 7 participant under the<br />
Member Administered Closed User<br />
Group (MA-CUG), 8 has been sending<br />
more than 3,000 messages a month to<br />
theOeNB.TheuseoftheSWIFTnetwork<br />
and membership in the MA-<br />
CUG provide for an efficient and secure<br />
electronic message transfer between<br />
the central government and<br />
the OeNB. Straight-through processing<br />
is possible for 97% of payment orders<br />
owing to the use of standardized<br />
message formats.<br />
From 2003 to <strong>2004</strong>, SWIFT migrated<br />
all 75 Austrian and some<br />
7,000 banks worldwide from the<br />
X.25 (dedicated line) technology to<br />
the advanced Internet Protocol (IP)based<br />
SWIFTNet technology. The<br />
6 ARTIS: Austrian Real Time Interbank Settlement;<br />
TARGET: Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer.<br />
7 SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. In more than 200 countries, the<br />
company, which is owned by the financial industry, provides safe and standardized messaging services and<br />
interfacing software for some 7,650 financial institutions.<br />
8 A service called for by banks and provided by SWIFTwhich facilitates the exclusive information exchange among<br />
all the SWIFT participants registered in the Closed User Group.<br />
52 ×<br />
<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2004</strong>