Dutch banking group ING and Paris-listed IT services firm Atos Origin are teaming up to provide Sepa-compliant payment processing services to banks and corporations in Europe.
Under the deal Atos Origin will provide business and technology services, while ING will deliver payment processing services compliant with the latest EU regulations.
Atos Origin says the services will help firms comply with Sepa and the EC's Payment Services Directive (PSD), without having to re-engineer their underlying IT systems. For corporations the offering includes the establishment of a single, centralised in-house banking solution, resulting in a simplified handling of payments at lower cost, says the vendor.
"Partnering with ING offers a unique one-stop-shop offer to both banks and corporations in which economies of scale, speed and the ability to execute are paramount,"says Rob Pols, CEO, Atos Origin in the Netherlands.
Robert Heisterborg, global head, payments and cash management, ING Wholesale Banking, says the alliance is "in line with our strategy to be one of the leading European payments and cash management providers".
News of the venture comes the day after Atos Origin finally struck a deal with its two largest shareholders - Centaurus Capital and Pardus Capital Management - following a long running and bitter dispute.
Under the deal, chairman of the supervisory board, Didier Cherpitel, left the company to be replaced by the president of AGF, Jean-Philippe Thierry. Representatives from both activist investors will also have seats on the supervisory board.
The deal followed last week's annual shareholders meeting which was suspended amid chaotic scenes by Atos Origin's CEO Philippe Germond.
In yesterday's statement the firm said: "All parties regret the incident which resulted in the adjournment of the shareholders' meeting."