Annual Report 2004

Integration of Payment Services in Europe and Consolidation
of Cash Distribution Structures in Austria
ARTIS payments
in 2004
Central government
sends payment orders
to OeNB via SWIFT
OeNB takes antimoney
laundering
action
Smooth Transition to
SWIFTNet FIN
many, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia
and Slovenia were using the
OeNBÕs STEP2 access point. In addition,
SlovakiaÕs Na«rodna« bankaSlovenska
became the first central bank
with the status of an indirect STEP2
participant. The OeNBÕs average
daily STEP2 transaction volume
more than tripled over the course
of 2004.
With its STEP2 access, the OeNB
— in cooperation with the banking industry
— has succeeded in providing a
solution that secures Austrian banksÕ
competitiveness also in the field of
cashless payments, having earlier enhanced
cash logistics with the establishment
of the cash services company
GELDSERVICE AUSTRIA Logistik
fu‹r Wertgestionierung und
Transportkoordination G.m.b.H.
ARTIS/TARGET 6 —New
Developments in Large-Value
Payment Systems
Acting as a role model for the Austrian
financial market, the OeNB decided
to support Austrian banks in
combating money laundering and terrorist
financing by implementing a
transaction monitoring system designed
to ensure compliance with embargo
guidelines. The legal basis in
this respect was laid down by the Austrian
government and the European
Parliament. While not obliged to
meet the provisions on money laundering
and terrorist financing owing
to its special status under the Austrian
Banking Act, the OeNB nevertheless
resolved to introduce precautionary
measures to this end.
All relevant data on payment orders
received by the OeNB are automatically
checked prior to processing.
This measure represents another
majorsteptowardpreventingmisuse
of the payment systems infrastructure
made available by the OeNB.
In 1999, when the Austrian realtime
gross settlement (RTGS) system
ARTIS was launched, an average of
3,339 transactions with an average total
value of EUR 8 billion were processedonadailybasis.In2004,the
daily volume increased to 6,019 transactions
worth EUR 10.3 billion,
which corresponds to an increase by
80.3% in volume and by 28.8% in
value. Year on year, the transaction
volume augmented by close to 10%
in 2004, while the value remained
more or less unchanged.
As from September 8, 2003, the
Austrian Federal Financing Agency,
a SWIFT 7 participant under the
Member Administered Closed User
Group (MA-CUG), 8 has been sending
more than 3,000 messages a month to
theOeNB.TheuseoftheSWIFTnetwork
and membership in the MA-
CUG provide for an efficient and secure
electronic message transfer between
the central government and
the OeNB. Straight-through processing
is possible for 97% of payment orders
owing to the use of standardized
message formats.
From 2003 to 2004, SWIFT migrated
all 75 Austrian and some
7,000 banks worldwide from the
X.25 (dedicated line) technology to
the advanced Internet Protocol (IP)based
SWIFTNet technology. The
6 ARTIS: Austrian Real Time Interbank Settlement;
TARGET: Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer.
7 SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. In more than 200 countries, the
company, which is owned by the financial industry, provides safe and standardized messaging services and
interfacing software for some 7,650 financial institutions.
8 A service called for by banks and provided by SWIFTwhich facilitates the exclusive information exchange among
all the SWIFT participants registered in the Closed User Group.
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Annual Report 2004