VTB and Rostelecom test new financial messaging service

Source: VTB

VTB was the first among Russian banks to start testing a new product, the SPFS Service Bureau, which is aimed at exchanging financial documents with users of the Bank of Russia Financial Messaging System (SPFS) without a direct connection to it.

The first client to test this product was PJSC Rostelecom.

Thanks to the implemented digital process, companies will no longer need to integrate their system with the Bank of Russia and go through special registration on their own. The service is provided directly in the remote banking system without additional costs for service integration.

The SPFS Service Bureau process is as follows: the client generates a financial document in the VTB Business Online system, signs it and sends it to the bank. VTB receives the document and sends these payments to the recipient (system participant) for execution via the SPFS channel. Service bureau clients are identified as ordinary SPFS users, so the procedure for sending/receiving and processing their financial messages is exactly the same as a direct participant.

“VTB was one of the first to connect to SPFS, and today we have become the first Russian bank to provide the SPFS Service Bureau service. This service offers companies a new way to send documents to the bank – sending instructions for working with accounts in different banks through one channel – and will improve operational processes. The development of such services is another step in the payment market towards unified channels and formats, which in the future will have a positive impact on all its participants,” said Natalya Dirks, Member of the VTB Management Board.

“We are pleased that the first project was launched jointly with our client and partner, PJSC Rostelecom. Connecting the SPFS Service Bureau will enable the client to simplify and speed up the exchange of financial documents, as well as save on integration and further support of the channel with the Bank of Russia. In the future, the functionality of the service will also make it possible to perform cross-border financial messaging operations with foreign SPFS participants,” commented Alexander Botsiev, Head of Sales of Settlement and Passive Products, Senior Vice President of VTB Bank.

“This is an important event for our company, launching a pilot project for the transmission of financial messages with our partner, VTB Bank, which acted as the SPFS Service Bureau for us. We now have the opportunity to organize information exchange with our settlement banks in a one-stop shop, which was VTB Bank for us. The organization of such interaction did not entail additional costs for integration and infrastructure maintenance. At the same time, the one-stop format allows you to get all the features and benefits of the SPFS service, as if we were connected directly,” says Sergey Anokhin, Senior Vice President – Financial Director of PJSC Rostelecom.

SPFS – the financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia – has been in existence since 2014. Its purpose is to ensure the guaranteed and uninterrupted provision of financial messaging services between participants, as well as to reduce risks affecting the security and confidentiality of financial messaging services. VTB was among the first to join SPFS in 2015 and is now the leader in terms of traffic.