Eiger Systems, a UK-based supplier of bank validation applications and data, today announced that the Prudential-owned Egg funds supermarket had become the first client for BANK WIZARD International, which was launched last month.
At the same time, Eiger Systems announced the release of three new modules for BANK WIZARD International supporting Spain, Netherlands and Portugal. This extends the coverage of BANK WIZARD International beyond the initial release for Germany, France, Belgium and Italy.
Building on the BANK WIZARD™ product covering sort codes and account numbers of UK banks and building societies, BANK WIZARD International enables customers to validate bank details from seven different European countries within a single application. Eiger Systems plans to extend support to other countries in the future.
“The beauty of BANK WIZARD International,” explains Jonathan Williams, Product Marketing Manager for Eiger Systems, “is that existing users are not burdened with implementing new versions of the software as each new country enhancement is added. The easy-to-use API (Application Programming Interface) within BANK WIZARD International embraces all current and future countries. Customers don’t need to upgrade the software – they can simply purchase the additional country licences relevant to their own operations.”
Comprising a software application and a regularly updated database of bank details, BANK WIZARD International validates sort codes and account numbers, taking into account all the complexities of the different formats, rules, and modulus checking required for each different country. In addition, BANK WIZARD International validates account numbers input in the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) format. More importantly, by using their in-depth knowledge of the domestic banking systems, BANK WIZARD International is able to go beyond the limited checking built into the IBAN format to check bank, branch and account information.
“Since the implementation of BANK WIZARD in the UK, our requirements expanded to include a validation solution for our new banking business in France”, explains Carl Webber, Head of Group Banking Solutions at Egg. “As Eiger Systems was already an established and respected supplier to Egg we had no hesitation in implementing BANK WIZARD International.”
BANK WIZARD International is used by Egg to automatically validate the bank, branch and account data input by customers setting up Direct Debits on their accounts. This process includes verification of data formats, checking that the bank and branch exist and identifying errors in account number and check-digits. This leads directly to a reduction in data entry errors and the costs associated with rectifying errors manually. It has also contributed to achieving Egg’s goal of high levels of customer service.
BANK WIZARD International is platform and application independent. At Egg, it is installed on a Windows server platform based in Derby, UK and is integrated into Egg’s core business applications utilising BANK WIZARD International’s open API (Application Programming Interface).