Finansiella institut behöver en säker och tillförlitlig infrastruktur för att utföra transaktioner mellan varandra. I dagsläget finns det en rad olika lösningar för detta, som SWIFT och SEPA. Dessa lösningar har dock problem. SEPA omfattar enbart eurozonen och den övriga Europeiska unionen, och SWIFT har funnits sedan 1970-talet och har en äldre kommunikationsstandard som är dyr att ansluta sig till. SWIFTs standard är under processen av att fasas ut och ersättas av den nyare ISO 20022 standarden för finansiella meddelanden. Därför finns det ett behov av ett nytt digitalt betalningssystem som är lättillgängligt, billigt, säkert, och lättanvänt för finansiella institutioner. Detta problem kan lösas med hjälp av den nyare ISO 20022 standarden och HTTPS. I detta examensarbete konstrueras ett förslag till kommunikationssystem som följer dessa standarder och bibehåller integriteten hos de finansiella meddelandena. Kommunikationssystemets källkod är öppen för allmänheten och dokumenterad, vilket gör den lättillgänglig och ett simpelt ramverk för ISO 20022-kompatibla kommunikationssystem som gör att finansiella institutioner kan integrera det i sina existerande system. Kommunikationssystemet implementeras i Java, som är ett väletablerat programmeringsspråk inom finanssektorn. Denna implementation valideras genom integrationstester för de testfall som identifierats i det konstruerade systemet. Vidare inkluderar implementeringen även dokumentation med instruktioner om exempelvis hur det föreslagna systemet kan integreras i befintliga finansiella institutioners system. Kommunikationssystemet stödjer grundläggande funktionalitet för att skicka och ta emot meddelanden, men stöd för flera olika meddelandetyper är inte implementerat. Vidare är kommunikationssystemet beroende av ett externt system som tar emot och behandlar meddelandena efter att de validerats av komunikationssytemet. / Financial institutes need a secure and reliable infrastructure to make transactions with each other. In the current situation there are a few different solutions for this, like SWIFT and SEPA. These solutions have their own set of problems. SEPA only covers the eurozone and the rest of the European Union. SWIFT has been around since the 1970s and uses an old communication standard which is expensive to use. SWIFT’s standard is currently being replaced by the more modern ISO 20022 financial messaging standard. Due to this, there is a demand for a new digital communication system that is accessible, cheap, secure, and easy to use for financial institutions. This problem could be solved by the newer ISO 20022 standard and HTTPS. In this thesis, a proposal for a communication system that is compliant with these standards is constructed, keeping the integrity of the financial messages intact. The communication system’s source code is publicly available and documented, which keeps it accessible and makes it a simple ISO 20022 compatible communication system framework for financial institutions to integrate into their existing payment systems. The communication system solution is implemented in Java, which is a well-established programming language within the finance sector. The implementation is validated through integration tests for the test cases that have been identified for the constructed system. Furthermore, the implementation includes documentation with instructions for, for example, how the proposed communication system can be integrated in existing financial institution systems. The communication system supports basic functionality for sending and receiving messages, but support for multiple message types is not implemented. Furthermore, the communication system is dependent on an external system that receives and processes the messages after they have been validated by the communication system.

Infrastructure in the form of payment systems is a necessity to allow for payments to reach from payer to payee, but it is also subject to product differentiation between banks. In the euro countries, a domestic-integration zone termed SEPA that consolidates payment systems into a singular system has been regulated, providing market efficiencies for customers and companies. However, in Sweden, banks use unstandardized file communication that is costly for stakeholders to interface against, and is becoming increasingly difficult to oversee. With the introduction of novel payment solutions (e.g. mobile payments), there is also an increase in competitors that access the infrastructure. A rising customer demand for faster, global and integrated payments has been identified. This increased fragmentation of the market requires large investments for banks and reduces customer mobility, which motivates the need for consolidation of payment flows. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the roles of stakeholders in the clearing and settlement mechanism, and to identify the drivers and inhibitors that affect business decisions to change the systems in place. These results are categorized according to co-opetition theory. Furthermore, the thesis brings forward the global industry standard for financial messaging ISO 20022 to the business context, and discusses its implications in the Swedish market from an interoperability point of view. The study has been conducted using mixed methods with a qualitative approach. It includes: Analysis of documents and materials, non-participative observation, interviews with 9 industry experts and an in-depth case study of real-time payments in Sweden (Betalningar i Realtid). Results show that actors’ perceptions of one another are ambiguous, but cooperation is well-established and reaps many positive effects for firms. Co-opetition activities in banks are inclined to drive change, while competitive moves are likely to leave the system unchanged. Co-opetition is only possible under certain pre-agreed rules such as differentiation by implementing flexible payment solutions. The main implication for migration to an improved, standardized payment flow is connected to the governance of infrastructure. It is suggested that if agreements between stakeholders are not reached in due time then SEPA-like regulation put forward by higher instances is a likely outcome.