SWIFT’s 3SKey has become the latest device for secure personal authentication and digital signature to be supported in Omikron’s MultiCash solutions. The payments team at Deutsche Telekom Accounting’s international Shared Service Centre has successfully implemented the device in its MultiCash Transfer Payment Factory and tested the solution with the corporate’s main bank in France, in conjunction with the French version of the EBICS communication standard.
Omikron’s MultiCash product lines are designed to support multiple communication options and authentication/authorization devices. The MultiCash products support all common market standards and are constantly maintained in line with new requirements. As a result, corporate users are able to conduct electronic business with all their local and international banks.
The 3SKey device was launched by SWIFT as part of its "SWIFT for Corporates" initiative. One main advantage is that SWIFT, with its special position in the international banking community, acts as Certification Authority for the underlying Public Key Infrastructure.
Although this strong authentication solution is developed and marketed by SWIFT, it is in fact not linked to any one communication channel. This means that 3SKey can be used both with a SWIFT interface such as SWIFT Alliance Lite2 for submitting bulk payments via FileAct and with other channels for secure corporate-bank communication. This has proved popular with the leading French banks who promote 3SKey as part of the new French EBICS communication standard, when the "TS" (digital signature) variant is used for signing transactions. The global roll-out of 3SKey has also started, guaranteeing the support of the banking community worldwide. Alongside the French and German EBICS-variants, 3SKey can be used with MCFT which is supported by over 200 banks across the world. "This international approach is a major plus for the MultiCash products, says Klaus Schuster, Team Head for International Bank Payments at Deutsche Telekom Accounting GmbH. "Because we are then able to use the keys stored on the SWIFT 3SKey token for other banks in Europe or beyond, as and when we need to."
Omikron is among the first suppliers worldwide to have integrated comprehensive support for SWIFT 3SKey in their solutions. This step extends the strategic cooperation between Omikron and SWIFT even further.
About SWIFT 3SKey
In response to demands from its clients SWIFT, in partnership with the international banking community, developed a multi-bank personal digital identity solution. The solution, usable on the SWIFT network but also on proprietary networks or the internet, allows corporates to sign financial messages and files sent to their banks, using a single signing device. It also offers banks a cost-effective way to implement secure authentication on electronic banking services by using a shared, reliable and trusted Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
About MultiCash Transfer Payment Factory
Omikron’s Payment Factory solutions enable corporates to automate and centralize bank payments. Using parallel, high-speed communication channels, all local and international banks can be accessed and managed from one central system. Balance and transaction information and payments in a wide range of local, European and international formats can be integrated in the automated workflows. This means that transactions generated on the accounting system can be processed without manual intervention or delay, maximizing the corporate’s level of Straight Through Processing. Optionally, data can be organized separately for each entity of the corporate group. For service providers supporting multiple corporate groups, full data segregation per corporate is possible. Corporates are able to move from multiple non-compatible authorization options to a single device for all banks. The ability to define finely granular access rights and an integrated capability to use all functions remotely via a web and mobile interface round off the product proposition.