Payments modernization developed and managed by IBM, hosted on IBM Public Cloud
The Prairie Payments Joint Venture (PPJV) is pleased to report the successful completion of the first of its kind, end-to-end Interac e-Transfer API 3.5 payment transactions test of the Payments-as-a-Service platform (PaaS).
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“Successful end-to-end transaction testing is a critical first step to ramping up transactional volumes on the PaaS platform, which will continue through the fall, including additional payment types such as automated funds transfers (AFT) and domestic wires. We are pleased with the outcome,” said Michael Devlin, CEO of the PPJV.
Delivered by IBM Services through IBM Payments Centre Canada, this modernized platform is deployed and hosted in a dedicated, private cloud environment on IBM public cloud. The high-availability solution is designed to meet strict regulatory requirements for financial data transmission, security and privacy, including a cognitive, real time fraud detection capability.
“The innovative work undertaken in just a few short weeks by the PPJV and IBM is really important in setting the pace for payments modernization in this country,” said Charbel Safadi, Senior Partner for Financial Services with IBM Canada. “By introducing a new cloud-based integration architecture for credit unions with unique core banking systems, we’ve taken an important step in driving flexibility in how they can innovate their member experiences, while providing the most modernized payments services.”
“For credit unions, the successful outcome of this test is unprecedented because it demonstrates a dynamic integration made possible via a market leading, cloud-based API integration architecture or “Digital Integration Pattern”. It establishes that we can deliver integration functionality as an extension of the “as-a-service” model we are delivering through PaaS for credit unions,” added Devlin.
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Owned by credit unions, this exclusive digital integration pattern enables any credit union or financial institution across Canada to integrate with the PaaS platform, regardless of their chosen digital banking or core banking solution. It further enables credit unions and other FIs to rapidly innovate and enable new member and customer experiences, through this light-weight, streaming integration layer.
Additional platform benefits include:
- Easy onboarding: Developed with a replicable plan including activities and dependencies so other credit unions and financial institutions can easily deploy.
- Channel and core system agnostic: Any digital channel or core banking system can easily be connected.
- Light and modern integration architecture: Cloud-based meaning anyone can use it while still receiving the efficiencies of the cloud.
- Portable and not locked to a single vendor: Portable and not locked to any cloud vendor. Containerized, API-based architecture that allows flexibility in in deployment models and choice of cloud.
- Event driven architecture: Provides an opportunity for credit unions to rapidly add innovative new functions and services to their member experience through the application of streaming data.
- Foundation for open banking: Enables third-party developers to build applications and services around your member’s needs.
The IBM Payments-as-a-Service platform for the prairie credit unions will be expanded to support Multi-Zone Region (MZR) in the future.
Prairie credit unions are leveraging the PaaS platform to drive innovation and new payment product offerings for members, through an 8-year, multi-million dollar agreement with IBM to digitally transform and modernize credit union payment services in Canada – the largest agreement of its kind in Canada for the credit union system.
