Perago, the South African company 100% owned by SIA specializing in the design and development of infrastructures for central banks, has won the “Payments and Market Infrastructure Provider of the Year“ award, presented by Central Banking, a news site for central banks all over the world.

The award, part of the “Central Banking Awards 2018”, relates to excellence in the Central Banks sector, a sector that operates in an ever-more interconnected global economy, and was given to Perago by an independent advisory board and by Central Banking’s editorial staff for “having increased its customer base in 2017 by offering standard yet flexible real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, capable of fulfilling the specific needs of some of the most advanced central banks in the world.”

There are currently 20 central institutions in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania that have decided to use SIA’s technologies to develop their payment infrastructures.

Christopher Jeffery, Chairman of the Central Banking Awards Committee and Editor-in-chief of Central Banking, said: “Perago has had particular success in the Nordic countries where electronic payments are quickly displacing the use of cash. Its hybrid RTGS system is arguably the most sophisticated as it presents central banks with not only a funds transfer system, but also business process. The judges also noted Perago’s support for lower-value payments in countries such as Iceland.”

Commenting on the award, Perago’s Chief Executive Officer Claudio Ceresani said: “The payment industry is living in a new era of exciting transformations and the ability of central banks to lead these modernisation projects is crucial. Our strategy to create and foster a strong community of central banking customers collaborating with us and one another to build a continuously evolving ecosystem of products, has lead Perago to develop the most sophisticated and future looking solutions available on the market today. This award recognises our efforts to support central banks in their strategic endeavours.”