Chaps Co is pleased to announce the launch of its new Affiliate Group which met for the first time on 9 July. Chaps is the UK's same day high-value payment system, settling each payment with finality at the Bank of England.
CHAPS wants to put its end-users at the heart of its thinking. The new group is providing CHAPS with the opportunity to hear first-hand the views from the various market segments it serves, associated associations and key Indirect Participants that make CHAPS payments via a Direct Participant.
As part of CHAPS' continuing evolution, the aim of the Affiliate Group is to help CHAPS strategically understand where change is required, to deliver benefits to its market segments via enhanced operational processes, and to assist in the development of the wider payment landscape.
Dr Herta von Stiegel, CHAPS Co Chair, comments: "The Affiliate Group is a strategic platform for CHAPS to engage with its end-users. Our objectives are to listen, understand the market segments we serve directly or indirectly and subsequently influence our stakeholders and the wider payments eco-system. We were excited to see so many attendees from challenger and wholesale banks, Government, trade associations and our strategic partners.
"The dialogue at our first meeting has brought us closer in placing our end-users at the centre of our overall strategy."
Alan Taylor, EBA Clearing, said: "EBACL and CHAPS have common issues as operators of high value payment systems.
The Affiliates Group was an excellent and timely opportunity to hear the views of the end-users. In fact, the comments made for the sterling service matched very closely those being put forward in the euro payments domain. In particular, a move towards real-time payments and more extensive and timely data provision about the status of payments were a common thread. CHAPS and EBACL will continue to share experiences to ensure delivery of first-class services regardless of the currency".
Angus Maitland, Tesco Bank, said: "The CHAPS Affiliate Group has provided an excellent opportunity to identify areas for improvement within what is already an efficient payment system. Ourr focus is on giving our customer the best possible experience and we are happy to be working with CHAPS to achieve this."