Madrid, April 28 - Introducing electronic signing for banking transactions in their branches can save the 45 members of the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks up to 26 Million Euros every year. The savings calculated by the confederation are based on paper savings alone. Additional savings are expected as paper forms disappear in internal workflow reducing the efforts for printing, scanning, indexing, archiving and transporting. Spanish Savings Banks also start to enjoy the benefits of an enhanced customer experience in their branches as they are disburdens from a lot of administrative work.
The Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros (CECA) intends to imply the end of paper in the bank offices. The project has been developed over the past 18 months by CECA's Commission of Organisation, Automation and Services (COAS). They have developed a software tool that has already been tested with satisfying results in 15 savings banks all over Spain. More than 70.000 client transactions have been signed using this technology in the pilot phase. The savings bank of Avila was the first one to try out the digital signature, with some "very satisfactory" results, said the assistant general manager of the savings bank, José Luis Martín Velayos, who initiated, leaded, & managed the project.
The final version is now in production at twelve savings banks in Spain since the end of March 2009. Their customers sign their banking documents and transactions now both digitally and securely. Thousands of Softpro's SignPad eSignio tablets have been rolled out and will be rolled out in these weeks. The SignPad was especially developed for the digitizing of handwritten signatures in close co-operation with Softpro and Wacom. The SignPad eSignio has the features that Spanish Savings Banks are looking for: comfortable paperless signing which is robust, secure and cost-effective, all at the same time. Before year end the number of Spanish Savings Banks which will fully deploy the solution is estimated to reach the number of 20.
CECA's system integrator Matchmind managed to integrate Softpro's Software Development Kit for signature capturing within a very short time frame. With the new system in place, the client signs digitally instead of signing a paper receipt every time when confirming a banking transaction. This system is a tool available to the whole finance sector, i.e. banks, savings banks, credit unions and insurance companies.
"We are happy to benefit from our best practice information exchange with the German Savings Banks Association (Deutsche Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe) especially their processing centre Finanz Informatik and her customer Berliner Sparkasse which has rolled out the system in spring 2008 on a large scale as well." says Santiago Uriel technological vice president of COAS. Uriel continues: "There are already contacts being established with the persons in charge of technological innovation of some big finance companies that had shown interest in the tool." CECA intends to convert this type of solutions in a "de facto" standard in the financial sector in Spain. The goal is to promote a security standard plus some standard procedures by means of best practice.
Apart from the IT tool to implement the electronic signature, CECA also offers solutions as a service for the long-term storage and safe-keeping of the electronically signed documents, time stamping and digital certificates custody.
Spanish Savings Banks expected to save at least 26 Million Euros per year thanks to electronic signing
Recommended links for additional information
>> SOFTPRO Newsletter 02/09
featuring various topics about Paperless Signing and Fraud Prevention; a newsticker highlighting some of recent success stories; quotes from Softpro's customers all over the world and a look into the future of signature capturing and verification.
>> Sunrise digitizes signatures with Softpro SignPad and SignDoc
>> Berliner Sparkasse signs paperless with Softpro SignDoc
>> Insurer VPV goes paperless with SignDoc for Contract Signing
>> Outline about the status of Dynamic Signature Verification today
>> Software Development Kit: Integrating Signature Verification into own Applications
>> Softpro's SignDoc: Handwritten Signatures secure Electronic Documents
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| E-Signing in Spain - „Firma Digitalizada“ - An Initiative of Spanish Savings Banks |
High-Quality Images
ID: c01 More and more customers of Spanish Savings Banks are requested to sign on a SignPad. The Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros, CECA) introduces these high quality signature tablets in their primary process on a large scale. Capturing signatures on signature tablets allows branches to execute a lot of typical operations without paper. Capturing the biometric characteristics of signatures enhances the security level of the process. This photo was captured at a teller in a branch of Caja Avila, one of 45 savings banks in Spain. Download Size and Type ~ 1 MB / ZIP |
ID: c02 Signature tablets with a very high resolution on the display, like this SignPad eSignio, offer various additional use options: The Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros, CECA) demonstrates the feasibility of using the signature tablet as a soft keyboard as well. For applications still requiring a PIN entry the SignPad offers this option for a gradual move from knowledge-based authentication (using PIN and password) to a Biometric Authentication (using the dynamic aspects of handwritten signatures such as writing speed and different pressure levels). This approach to combine Biometrics and smartcard based digital signatures is already reflected in the EU regulation about Electronic Signatures in the year 1999. Download Size and Type ~ 1 MB / ZIP |
For additional images and logos, please visit the Image Gallery
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Animation about Paperless Signing in Banking - e.g. for Account Opening
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About SOFTPRO
The SOFTPRO Group is the worldwide leading vendor of systems for capture and verification of handwritten signatures. The company is based in Boeblingen, Germany with local subsidiaries in North America (Bear, Delaware), the United Kingdom (London), and Asia-Pacific (Singapore).
The group currently employs an international staff of over 60 people, enabling more than 200 companies worldwide to streamline their document and transaction workflows.
- With its "eSign Workflow" product line, SOFTPRO provides solutions for securing the authenticity and integrity of documents within electronic processes, such as those required for legal contracts. For this purpose, a unique signature technology is used to extract and evaluate both the static and dynamic (biometric) characteristics of handwritten signatures.
- SOFTPRO’s "Fraud Prevention Solutions" portfolio provides a holistic approach to detecting and preventing fraud in paper-based processes (such as payment transactions), as well as increasing operational efficiency using signature management and verification solutions.
Since 2002, the offer to secure electronic documents with handwritten signatures extended the customer portfolio of SOFTPRO to other industries such as banking and insurance, telecommunication, health and pharmaceuticals, retail, government, automotive and logistics.
SOFTPRO is privately owned.
SOFTPRO's partners include: A2iA, Adobe, Betasystems, Datalan, Disoft, Fujitsu, Gijima AST, Gizmotech, höltl Retail Solutions, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motion Computing, Siemens, Toshiba, TeleCash (First Data), Siemens, Unisys and Wacom.
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