GIRO Zrt., an automated clearing house established in 1989, has helped to spur on the development of Hungary’s banking sector, which had become a two-tier system in 1987 including commercial banks as well as the central bank. GIRO performs an essential infrastructural service in the Hungarian banking system.
CEO Peter Legeza explains, “Every day we handle on average 1.2 million transactions and transfer hundreds of billions of Hungarian Forints. If we did not do our job well, the whole financial system would not work properly.” GIRO Zrt. handles payments for 54 primary clearing members and sends the necessary information to the central bank and to the commercial banks, ensuring seamless transactions. In July next year, GIRO Zrt. will implement a new five clearing cycles per day system which will fulfil the needs of intraday interbank transfer transactions, meeting the highest international standards.
Given its significance to Hungary’s financial system, GIRO Zrt. is highly regulated and often audited. It has earned an exceptional track record in meeting the highest European standards, i.e. the Ten Core Principles. GIRO’s payment activities were not affected by the economic downturn. The company has recently been seeing growth in corporate transactions, which have balanced out a reduction in government transactions due to reforms in Hungary’s public sector. Peter Legeza concludes, “GIRO Zrt. is a stable company within a stable and advanced financial system here in Hungary.”
Vadász u. 31.
1054 Budapest
Tel: +36 1 428 5600
[email protected]
www.giro.hu
