The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS), in collaboration with ProgressSoft Corporation and the Seychelles Bankers Association (SBA) launched the Customer’s Platform of the Seychelles Electronic Funds Transfer (SEFT) system, which will avail the service to a wider spectrum of users around the country as of today.
With this upgrade, SEFT is no longer only available for the banks, but is also available to the public, who can initiate their own online payments, from the comfort of their homes or businesses. The upgrade offers new features such as an automated transaction-archiving component enabling users to track all their transactions, in addition to a mobile app that was developed and is now available on Google Play and App Store allowing users to view and track all payments initiated and received.
Furthermore, in this upgrade, ProgressSoft managed to integrate the core banking systems of CBS, all commercial banks and the Seychelles Credit Union (SCU) with the SEFT system, allowing for Straight-Through Processing of transactions, this in return will significantly reduce the human intervention and paper-based transactions, and ultimately reducing errors and increasing efficiency.
ProgressSoft’s Electronic Funds Transfer system, PS-EFT - branded as SEFT in Seychelles, and implemented in its first phase in 2013 at CBS - is an advanced electronic funds transfer system that provides the facility to transfer funds from one place to another via electronic channels. It eliminates the need for physical exchange of money, along with the physical presence of the payer and the payee at their corresponding banks, achieving a hassle-free payment experience for both retail and corporate bank customers.
Prior to the successful implementation of SEFT, ProgressSoft has also collaborated with CBS to deploy its Electronic Check Clearing (PS-ECC) system on a countrywide scale, which is currently operating in CBS and all banks in the Republic of Seychelles, and enabling same-day check clearing and settlement.