Protect your banking transactions with the EBICS protocol
In the world of finance, the security and efficiency of banking transactions are of paramount importance to companies. The EBICS protocol, created in 2005, is an essential solution offering two distinct versions – EBICS T and EBICS TS – each with its own specific features and advantages.
EBICS, a secure protocol for your banking exchanges
EBICS is a European standard for the banking sector, enabling the electronic exchange of financial data between banks and companies (remittances, bank details, bank statements, etc.), with no volume limit and in a secure environment.
The EBICS protocol ensures security on two levels:
- Your data is exchanged in XML format via a secure HTTPS connection,
- Your files are encrypted with a signature key, an encryption key, and an authentication key, guaranteeing the authenticity of transmitted data.
EBICS is a multi-bank protocol, which means you can communicate with any European bank that has adopted the protocol. It is currently used mainly in France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
You can subscribe to two types of EBICS contract with your bank: EBICS T or EBICS TS.
What are the differences between EBICS T and EBICS TS?
EBICS T guarantees the secure transport of your financial data, but does not enable you to digitally sign your documents. Validating a payment, for example, must be done separately via your bank’s website, using your personal bank details.
EBICS TS is the latest version of the protocol. It aims to further digitalize banking communications between companies and their banks.
The EBICS TS version enables the transmission of bank files with an integrated digital signature. This means you can make all your payments and validate them automatically, without any additional verification. All payments may be electronically signed: internal transfers, payment of supplier invoices or expense claims, international transfers, treasury transfers to rebalance your bank accounts, etc.
How does the EBICS TS protocol work?
With the EBICS TS protocol, the digital signature is based on a digital certificate, also known as a signature token.
To benefit from digital signature, you need to make the request to your bank. A certification authority issues the tokens and confirms the identity of the signatories to the bank. There are several certification authorities empowered to issue signature tokens, such as Swift 3SKey, Certeurope, Certinomis, and Chambersign.
You can then collect the certificates from your bank and distribute them to the users concerned.
Each token is unique and nominative, providing an additional guarantee of security for your banking data exchanges.
Why choose the EBICS TS protocol?
EBICS is a fairly simple protocol to set up. Exchanges are made over the Internet without any specialized rows, enabling you to easily automate your payment processes. Furthermore, the EBICS subscription does not involve any additional communication costs, making exchanges completely free of charge.
By opting for the EBICS TS version, you gain even more in:
- Productivity: you can issue as many transactions as you need, with faster processing times,
- Security, thanks to the use of a personal digital signature for strong authentication,
- Flexibility: a simple Internet connection is all you need to make and validate your payments.
EBICS TS is available in most banking and treasury management software. You can use it in the Exabanque software at no extra cost. Therefore, all your actions, for all your banks, are centralized in Exabanque: creating, validating and sending your remittances, receiving and consulting your transaction statements and receipts (PSR, ARA).
