Banking on Real-Time: How Banque Banorient France Transformed Payments with Eastnets

Situation

Bridging Continents, Modernizing Payments

Banque Banorient France – UAE Branches, the Gulf arm of the long-established European bank, connects clients across Europe and the Middle East through a mix of corporate, SME, and retail banking services. Known for its customer-centric approach, the bank continues to evolve its technology infrastructure to meet modern financial expectations.

In line with the UAE Central Bank’s National Payment Systems Strategy (NPSS) and the Instant Payment Platform (IPP) mandate, the bank sought to modernize its payment ecosystem to enable 24/7 instant payments, ISO 20022 messaging, and advanced features such as proxy payments, Request to Pay (RTP), and QR code functionality.

To meet these requirements within strict regulatory timelines, the bank partnered with Eastnets to deploy PaymentSafe NPSS v2.5, a cloud-enabled, real-time payments solution designed for compliance, scalability, and seamless customer experience.

Task

Meeting the UAE Central Bank’s Instant Payments Mandate

The introduction of UAEIPP presented both strategic and technical challenges. The bank needed to ensure compliance, enable modern payment functionalities, and deliver round-the-clock availability — all without disrupting existing operations.

Key challenges included:

• Legacy systems not built for 24/7 real-time processing

• Lack of interoperability with UAEIPP Core and Overlay Services

• Absence of advanced payment capabilities such as proxy, RTP, and QR codes

• Tight regulatory timelines and operational constraints

• Need for robust compliance and fraud prevention mechanisms

The challenge was clear: modernize quickly and securely, ensuring full NPSS and ISO 20022 compliance while maintaining uninterrupted customer service.