APACS — Association for Payment Clearing Services
- Best practice, guidelines and standards in relation to:
- payment clearing systems;
- money transmissions/electronic funds transfer (EFT);
- credit cards and debit cards;
- card terminals;
- chip cards;
- e-purse and e-cash;
- cross border payments;
- home and office banking;
- security for electronic payments;
- Trust services.
1)APACS' Involvement with UKP.eb
As the trade association for the major banks and building societies engaged in payments and money transmission, APACS is keenly interested in e-business and the development of electronic trading methods.
For e-business to develop to its full potential, payment systems need to evolve to meet the challenge of the new electronic market place. APACS, with its members, is actively engaged in that evolution, developing the payment systems which e-business demands.
Within the UK Partnership for e-business, APACS sees the opportunity to work with other similarly motivated organisations to develop and influence the standards necessary to support UK e-business effectively. Co-incident with this, is the potential to agree a ‘UK position’ on the various issues of the day. Such positions can then be confidently and forcefully advocated by the individual partners within the particular standards bodies and forums each is associated with thereby offering a consistent UK view wherever relevant to the standardization effort that underpins the development of the global market place.
Currently, the most important topics for APACS and its members within the work programme of UKP.eb and the broad thrust of standards development for e-business are the twin topics of messaging standards and trust services. The former concentrating on business modelling and the harmonisation of data definitions as typified by the ebXML initiative jointly managed by UN/CEFACT and OASIS. The later encompassing all aspects of trust service provision, including the EU Electronic Signature Directive, Electronic Communications Act (2000), PKI and tScheme but in particular, getting the message across to SMEs as to the importance of trust services and secure payment methods to any well thought out e-business strategy.
2) Overview of APACS
Set up in 1985 as a non-statutory association of major banks and building societies, the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) is the industry body within the UK which oversees money transmission and which has responsibility for the co-operative aspects of payments, including plastic cards.
One of APACS’ principal tasks is to manage the major UK payment clearing systems and to maintain their operational efficiency and financial integrity, e.g. BACS, CHAPS, Cheque and Credit Clearing.
APACS is also responsible for developing the clearings and for related activities, i.e. it undertakes strategic studies, forecasting activities related to money transmission and the payments market in the future, and the development of standards for payment systems.
Topics covered by APACS include best practice, guidelines and standards in relation to:
- payment clearing systems
- money transmission/electronic funds transfer (EFT)
- credit cards and debit cards
- card terminals
- chip cards
- e-purse and e-cash
- cross-border payments
- home and office banking
- security for electronic payments
- trust services
APACS membership comprises has 31 member organisations (see Appendix for list) including most of the major high street banks and building societies (click here for current membership list) and operates through a staff of approximately 140 employees.
For further information visit our web site at www.apacs.org.uk or contact:
Dick Mabbott
Director, Standards and Security
Association for Payment Clearing Services
Mercury House
Triton Court
14 Finsbury Square
LONDON
EC2A 1LQ
tel no: 020 7711 6206
fax no: 020 7711 6299
e-mail: richard.mabbott@apacs.org.uk