Societ Interbancaria per l’Automazione (SIA), the Italian provider of IT solutions, has signed a distribution agreement with Perago Financial System Enablers Ltd., the South African company responsible for the modernisation of the payments system in South Africa.
SIA has also agreed a deal with Actalis, one of the companies specialising in security services and electronic signatures.
“SIA wants to be a partner for innovation, in order to share its successful model of technological co-operation to further enhance the process of European integration,” explains Renzo Vanetti, SIA’s Chief Executive Officer.
SIA offers a system infrastructure for retail and gross payment systems (RTGS, ACH), securities settlement and custody (Clearimpact) and trading systems (Trade Impact).
SIA is best known for its work on rebuilding the Italian securities settlement and cash payments infrastructures, and for its work on EBA Step2, the cross-border payments system created by the European Bnaking Assoiciation.
SIA was founded in 1977 by the Bank of Italy, ABI (the Italian Banking Association), CIPA and some other domestic banks. It built the Italian Interbanking Network (RNI) and the technological architecture of Borsa Italiana (stocks, derivatives, corporate bond and futures), the interbank deposit market (e-MID) and the Government bond market (MTS).
In 2001, the SIA Group reorganised itself into five specialist businesses: Kedrios (back office, asset management), Thesia (strategic consultancy and technological services for companies), Glesia (solutions and services for market access and interface), Actalis (IT services for information security, digital signature) and ATS (software applications).