NatWest chooses Icon Solutions to guide its payments modernization program
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UK bank NatWest has decided to turn to London-headquartered Icon Solutions for the modernization of its payment workflows.
Icon Solutions has developed the Icon Payments Framework (IPF), which NatWest intends to leverage for the development of a new payment processing engine. The engine would be compatible with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
The benefits of integrating IPF
Icon’s IPF solution was created in 2016, and it operates as a cloud-based framework that can provide banks with a way of creating personalized payment processing solutions. It comes with a software development kit, a low-code approach, additional modules, and other benefits.
It is a perfect solution for NatWest, which intends to use it alongside other capabilities, including its existing credit transfer and direct debit capability and the recently mandated SEPA instant capability. Combining all of these solutions, the bank intends to enhance the end-to-end experience for customers who seek increased flexibility in their initiation of payment flows.
Furthermore, IPF’s low code technology is deployable by both software engineering teams and business payment experts. Both parties can quickly extend and create customized integrations into existing banking systems. The partnership will provide NatWest with a level of modernization that its clients will be able to benefit from directly.
The company’s executive, Ian Povey, said: “The low code aspect of the framework (Icon’s IPF) empowers and enables organizations to control its delivery and feature richness while the simple extensibility of the capability allows software engineers to focus on high-value integrations and innovation.”
IPF will allow NatWest to target specific challenges
After integrating new technology, the bank intends to specifically target a number of challenges at the forefront of the payments sector. One example is the delivery of the UK’s upcoming New Payments Architecture (NPA), which requires interbank payment capabilities from its financial institutions. Another example is the new global ISO 20022 payment data message standard, which aims to standardize electronic data interchange between financial institutions.
The new standard will provide a more structured way for financial transactions to exchange data, including trade services, payments, and securities.
Icon Solutions co-founder and director Tom Kelleher commented on the new partnership, noting that NatWest’s mission is to deliver a sector-agnostic payments platform that would connect everything to everyone. He added that IPF can provide the best practice platform for enabling the change that the bank aims to achieve. As such, it will also increase the opportunity to improve business growth.
