Ereon is a strategic consulting firm focused on payments and liquidity management. The company also offers training in payments and cash management to banks, corporates and government institutions. Clients include global and major regional financial institutions such as ING, ABN Amro, RBS, Fortis Bank, Aegon as well as scheme managers such as Currence and banking associations.

Under the agreement, the Ereon team will join Clear2Pay's existing consultancy practice and add valuable expertise on the Sepa and PSD front, as well as sourcing issues, market entry models, governance and trade finance.

Michel Akkermans, chairman and CEO at Clear2Pay states: "In these challenging times we experience that more than ever the combination of expertise, experience and product is what matters most. We are delighted to be able to add the Ereon professionals to our team. Like ourselves they have a unique focus on the payments and transaction services space, where we share a number of customers."

News of the deal was released at EBAday 2009 in Vienna, the European payments conference and exhibition organised by Finextra and the Euro Banking Association.

Clear2Pay is also using the event as the launch pad for a new 'Sepa in a box' direct debit solution featuring pre-built standard interfaces and gateways for the back office processing of SDDs.

With the SDD implementation deadline looming, Clear2Pay says the product is aimed at both Tier 2 and Tier 3 banks who receive direct debits for their customers, but who do not have relationships with large corporates, and at the Tier 1 banks who want to take on additional insourced volume on behalf of smaller banks.

Mark Hartley, CMO and VP strategy & business development at Clear2Pay states: "This 'Sepa in a box' solution offers a scenario like correspondent banking. It is the partial outsourcing of the SDD payments process. Smaller banks are still required to offer SDD to their debtor clients but are not able or willing to make a large investment upfront. The larger banks who wish to invest in SDD to build longstanding relationships on the other hand, can benefit too from this solution by in-sourcing payments from smaller banks. With this solution they can offer the mandatory minimum plus a wider range of additional services at a realistic price level, without having to go for maximum volume on day one."