Hungary’s OTP Bank, one of the largest independent financial service providers in central and eastern Europe, announced on April 11 that it will utilise the full range of ACI’s UP portfolio of solutions to drive its digital transformation strategy. ACI is a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions.
As a long-standing ACI customer, OTP Bank already utilises ACI’s UP Retail Payments Solution and UP Payments Risk Management Solution. As the bank continues its digital evolution, it will now leverage ACI’s API Manager capabilities and, in addition, implement UP Immediate Payments. Both solution sets will serve as the architectural foundation for the bank’s enterprise-wide open banking strategy.
“Providing the best possible customer experience has been the focus of our bank since its inception. Consumers increasingly want new and innovative banking services. The advent of PSD2 and the launch of more real-time schemes will offer our customers more options as well as greater control and flexibility,” said Tibor Johancsik, CIO/COO, OTP Bank. “ACI’s UP solutions will be a significant element of our architecture, playing a substantial role in our own open banking strategy, enabling us to capitalise on the opportunities that PSD2 and real-time payment present.”
“With the European Union’s new PSD2 mandate, more central and Eastern European countries are embarking on real-time and immediate payments initiatives,” added Mandy Killam, group president, ACI Worldwide. “Our UP solutions ensure that financial institutions can take advantage of this sea change by delivering openness while also ensuring the highest levels of privacy and data protection for their clients. Rather than simply ‘checking the boxes’ to meet the PSD2 mandate requirements, ACI’s UP solutions help clients to protect their existing business, grow revenues in the short term and place them in the pole position in the new open banking payments ecosystem.”
OTP is Hungary’s largest bank with a market share of more than 25 per cent, and operates in nine countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, Montenegro and Russia. Its recent takeover of Romanian bank Banca Romaneasca was blocked by the National Bank of Romania. The deal, which would have been worth 650 million euros, was agreed in July 2017 and given the all clear Romania’s competition council in December.
Add Comment