Development of an Internal SEPA-Compliant Payment Processing System for Enhanced Banking Autonomy

The client seeks to reduce dependency on external banking providers by developing an internal payment processing system that supports SEPA incoming and outgoing payments, ensuring compliance with regulations, stable communication with banking infrastructure, and accurate accounting integrations. They face challenges in obtaining necessary certifications, maintaining secure and reliable payment operations, and managing complex internal logic within a highly regulated environment.

A mid-sized financial technology company aiming to streamline and secure its crossborder euro payment operations by building an in-house SEPA payment processing platform.

• Develop an internal banking platform capable of processing incoming and outgoing SEPA payments in compliance with regulatory standards.
• Achieve necessary certification with banking partners to validate the system’s compliance and operational stability.
• Enable the client to handle crossborder euro transactions independently, reducing reliance on third-party payment providers.
• Implement features such as SEPA Instant payments, whitelisting/blacklisting, and payment screening to enhance transaction security and speed.
• Establish automated reconciliation between payments and accounting events to streamline financial workflows.
• Deploy robust testing and monitoring strategies to ensure system reliability, security, and compliance post-launch.

• SEPA incoming and outgoing payment processing adhering to regulatory standards
• Full in-house processing of payments including validation, authorization, and execution
• Integration with external banking APIs and infrastructure for seamless communication
• Support for SEPA Instant payments with 24/7 processing capability
• Payment whitelisting and blacklisting functionalities for transaction security
• Automated payment screening and anti-money laundering checks via integrated API/SDKs
• Accounting event generation linked to payment activities for reconciliation
• End-to-end testing framework covering all critical user flows and compliance requirements
• Certification support including environment setup, test case creation, and dry runs

• Banking infrastructure APIs for payment execution and status updates
• Regulatory and certification bodies' verification systems
• Anti-money laundering and transaction screening APIs/SDKs
• Accounting systems for real-time reconciliation

• System availability of at least 99.9% with reliable uptime for 24/7 payment processing
• Compliance with SEPA regulations and certification standards
• Secure data handling and transmission protocols to protect sensitive payment information
• Scalable architecture supporting increasing transaction volume with minimal latency
• Efficient testing and monitoring processes to prevent outages and ensure regulatory compliance

The implementation of an internal, SEPA-compliant payment processing system will enable the client to operate more independently from external providers, leading to increased operational control, reduced transaction costs, and faster crossborder payments. With successful certification and robust automation, the system is expected to support a significant volume of transactions, enhance compliance adherence, and improve overall financial processing efficiency, mirroring previous project outcomes of stable, compliant, and reliable payment operations.