Paris, 4 October 2004
14 more participants admitted to EBA STEP2
In November 2004, 14 more banks from across the EU Member States will connect to STEP2 as Direct Participants. The decision concerning their admittance was taken at a Board meeting on 30th September 2004. The newly admitted banks are:
| Aktia Savings Bank | Finland |
| Banca Popolare di Vicenza | Italy |
| Banco Totta & Acores | Portugal |
| Bank of Cyprus | Cyprus |
| Bank of Slovenia | Slovenia |
| Citibank N.A. | UK |
| Credito Emiliano | Italy |
| De Nederlandsche Bank | Netherlands |
| Eesti Uhispank | Estonia |
| ICCREA | Italy |
| Sampo Bank | Finland |
| Société Marseillaise de Crédit | France |
| Spar Nord Bank A/S | Denmark |
| Unibanka A.S. | Latvia |
This will bring the total number of Direct Participants in STEP2 to 81 by year-end. Furthermore, STEP2 accounts for over 1300 Indirect Participants, who use a Direct Participant to connect to the system.
Today, the STEP2 system processes on average 110,000 payments per day with peak days of over 200,000 transactions. STEP2 is now widely recognised as the Pan-European Automated Clearing House (PE-ACH), since it can provide for payment distribution to all banks operating in the EU15.