Financial institutions - New SIC Architecture

SIC⁴ – New SIC Architecture

The Swiss RTGS system SIC was introduced 25 years ago. This was a milestone in the processing of interbank payments of international significance. However, today the architecture from back then is reaching its limits when it comes to adoption of new requirements from financial institutions. The new SIC architecture is the answer to the challenges of the coming decades.

The Swiss interbank payment system is highly appreciated both domestically and abroad. The IT infrastructure must be geared to future technologies and fundamentally updated so that the platform can remain on the cutting edge qualitatively with its unique advantages, such as reliability, security, range of function, innovative strength and cost efficiency. This refurbishment is being carried out in cooperation between the main stakeholders in the Swiss financial center and on behalf of the financial institutions and the Swiss National Bank as the SIC system manager and overseer of Switzerland's systemically important payment traffic infrastructure. Joint project of the Swiss financial industry The new RTGS platform, SIC⁴, will be realized over the four years by SIX Interbank Clearing, the joint venture of the Swiss financial center, within the scope of the “New SIC Architecture" (NSA) project. The rough concept was signed off by the Board of Directors in June 2011. Added value for the financial center On the one hand, SIC⁴ must retain its high level of security, reliability, high-performance and cost-efficiency. While at the same time, the new platform must meet the future, new demands in terms of standards, functionality and compliance. In this way, the financial institutions, as participants in the Swiss payment system, will be able to optimally meet their customers' needs. In this regard, an important role is played by the XML standard ISO 20022, already established in the interbank field for today’s SEPA services and planned to be implemented in the TARGET2-Securities system, starting operation in fall 2014. The standard will be increasingly important in the future in regard to the data exchange between financial institutions and their customers. SIC⁴ must be designed flexibly so that the introduction of new message standards of the future will be possible in a simple and cost-efficient manner. Flexible instead of a monolithic architecture In a flexible system, an application, a component or a service is divided into different logical layers (and typically also physical layers at the same time). Each of these layers is assigned a clear task, such as input/output interfaces, business logic, data access, data storage or user interface. Clearly delineated interfaces are defined between the layers, which allow improved maintenance and reusability. In contrast to a monolithic solution, functionally different aspects, such as data input and output, data processing, communication, error handling, user interface can be architecturally separated. Publications Articles relating to the "SIC⁴ – New SIC Architecture" project: Presentation at the Swiss Banking Operations Forum, 17 April 2012 (only in German) One, two, three, four – SIC⁴, in: CLEARIT, September 2011 Onion skin model for the payments infrastructure, interview wirh Dr. Romeo Lacher from Credit Suisse, Chairman of SIX Interbank Clearing's Board of Directors, in: CLEARIT, March 2011 Editorial by Daniel Wettstein, Swiss National Bank, Member of SIX Interbank Clearing's Board of Directors, in: CLEARIT, December 2010 New payments infrastructure, in: CLEARIT, December 2010 Would you like more information? Contact us using the online form.

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