Finastra today announced that Mizrahi-Tehafot Bank, the third largest bank in Israel, has chosen its pre-packaged payments solution, Fusion Payments To Go. The solution, aimed at small and medium-sized banks looking to implement domestic and cross-border payment services, will enable the bank to offer its customers frictionless and immediate payments, with reduced, fixed implementation cost. With a modern and agile solution in place, the bank will be able to better serve its customers, and in turn to grow its business, whilst being prepared for changing regulations such as ISO 20022.

Dudi Avni, Head of Delivery Channels Applications at Mizrahi-Tehafot Bank said, “The payments landscape is accelerating at a quicker pace than ever before and payments is now a strategic pillar for our business. Using Finastra’s payment hub will enhance our customer service and enable Mizrahi-Tehafot Bank to fulfil its strategic plan regarding payment services. Until now, we have been using in-house solutions for processing payments. Both retail and corporate clients are increasingly demanding a more seamless payment experience and a broader set of payment options."

“We quickly realized that we needed a market-leading off-the-shelf payment solution capable of unifying our current infrastructure. Finastra’s pre-packaged solution, based on its tried and tested global payment hub, will go far in helping us do so, whilst bringing sizable cost savings. With a large team of hundreds of people dedicated to the development of Finastra’s payments products, we know we are in safe hands and ready for tomorrow’s payment challenges.”

Built on Finastra’s payment hub, Fusion Global PAYplus, Fusion Payments To Go provides best-practice functionality and operating rules for supported clearing and settlement mechanisms, along with standard integration to external applications. It removes the need for expensive scheme maintenance, meaning that banks can redirect these funds towards the delivery of innovative business services that will improve the customer experience and deliver revenue growth.

Finastra looks after all elements from contracting, onboarding, service operations and upgrades, to billing – reducing the bank’s operational costs and providing a faster time to market. Fusion Payments To Go is available to mid- and small-tier banks in Europe interested in implementing RT1 and/or TIPS immediate payments, as well as the FED and TCH immediate payment schemes in the US, with other schemes to follow. It also supports banks worldwide looking to implement SWIFT. In this case, the solution will cover three types of clearing: SWIFT, Zahav (Israeli Real-Time Gross Settlement) and global liquidity management.

Avi Benzvi, Country Manager in Israel at Finastra said, “With Fusion Payments To Go, we’re enabling regional banks like Mizrahi-Tehafot to be more competitive, grow their business and market share, with faster time to value for them and their customers. Mizrahi-Tehafot is ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation in financial services in Israel. It has long been an early adopter of new technologies, and we’ve no doubt that our solution will help them drive further growth. We’re excited to be part of their ongoing success.”

Mizrahi-Tehafot has been a Finastra customer for over 20 years and also runs Finastra lending and capital markets solutions.