This is an interesting message. Some here might be suspicious of any proposed standard software, I guess. JMR
From: "R. A. Hettinga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 12:12:31 -0500 http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/Printer_Friendly_Version/0,1212,NAV47_STO67001-,00.html Banks' Project Eleanor to boost B2B security, payment processing By Lucas Mearian (Dec. 28, 2001) Some of the world's largest banks are backing a proposed industry standard that promises to secure business-to-business payments over the Internet and bolster straight-through-processing (STP), or the ability to clear payments in a single day instead of the three days needed now. Dubbed Project Eleanor, the proposed standard and software to link back-end systems would establish online authentication methods for banks and vendors and create standard database fields for computer-to-computer transactions. It's expected to be in place by mid-2002. New York-based Identrus LLC, a banking industry consortium, has assumed ownership of Project Eleanor, which originally was an independent joint venture of several financial institutions. Amsterdam-based ABN AMRO Holding NV, Germany-based HypoVereinsbank, Tokyo-based Sanwa Bank/UFJ and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. are now conducting in-house pilots of Project Eleanor. A second wave of financial institutions plans to join the pilot program during the first half of 2002. Peter Landsmann, director of electronic banking services at HypoVereinsbank, said in an interview with Computerworld today that the major costs associated with rolling out Eleanor will be in integrating the software and processes with back-end systems. The older the back-end systems, the more costly it will be. But, said Landsmann, the cost will be worth the trouble. "This will mean more straight-through processing for all the different participants: buyers, sellers and banks," said Landsmann, who estimated that integration would cost his bank less than $8.8 million. "Eleanor will offer risk management, timely information and integration into back-end systems, thereby streamlining processes." Project Eleanor includes six business-to-business e-payment types, including payment order, payment obligation, certified payment obligation, conditional payment order, conditional payment obligation and certified conditional payment obligation. Trading partners would have pre-established instructions with their banks for payment authorization, routing and settlement. Jeanne Capachin, research director at Meridien Research Inc. in Newton, Mass., said Project Eleanor has more potential than past payment and clearance standardization efforts because of its strong industry backing. More than a dozen large financial services companies are funding the project. "It brings two crucial elements missing from existing payment methodologies today: It has great potential as far as bringing standardization into payments and the ability to authenticate users," Capachin said. "The question remains if enough financial institutions will embrace it to make it the standard." According to Needham, Mass.-based TowerGroup, the global securities industry will spend $19.2 billion on STP projects between this year and 2004. The reason for the heavy investments in a STP standard is simple: For a bank like Citibank, which operates in more than 80 countries, a single payment and clearing standard would simplify conversion to local currency and adherence to local regulations. That's because the rules would be agreed on via Project Eleanor's software by the in-country vendor or bank prior to a transaction. "The point is that currently over the Internet companies first [make a sale] and then go off-line to close the deal and do the clearance, using their respective software," Landsmann said. "You have two work streams: the purchasing work stream ... and a payment work stream. With Eleanor, all of this can happen in one process -- the buys and delivery of a payment though an Internet message to the bank." "Eleanor has a lot of potential. It's up to the banks and customers to make it come true," he said. Jane Hennessy, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo, said her bank's customers and partners "are ready to take advantage of e-commerce so they will not have to resort to off-line means to execute payments." The banks giving financial backing to the effort include Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Banco Santander Central Hispano, Toronto-based Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, London-based HSBC Holdings PLC, Industrial Bank of Japan, National Australia Bank Ltd., Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest and Societe Generale Group. Related stories: ... --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.e-gold.com/stats.html lets you observe the e-gold system's activity now!
