About Us

Mission & Vision

STET is a critical operator for our clients, the banks, and the banking communities we serve every day. In 2024, STET processed more than 36.6 billion transactions, amounting to an average of over €25 bn per day. We are pleased to take on this significant responsibility on behalf of banks, central banks and, ultimately, citizens and end users. As a Systemically Important Payment System (SIPS), we are committed to upholding the highest standards of security, rigor, and transparency.

Doing more for banks today, and even more tomorrow

We assume our role with full dedication, encompassing day-to-day business operations and a long-term vision to anticipate the demands of tomorrow’s market.

As the European payments sector undergoes dramatic changes, arising from industry standardization, regulatory updates and technological upgrades, we remain dedicated to innovation. Our approach to continuous improvement drives us to design new, groundbreaking functional and technical solutions, underpinned by flexible architectures capable of adapting to future challenges.

Since its inception, STET vision has been that European harmonization should not impede market diversity. This is why we develop flexible and sustainable architectures designed to meet the varied needs of our clients through user-friendly, multi-channel services.


Innovating to anticipate the needs of the market

What is happening with the market? What will happen tomorrow and the next day/years? These questions are a major focus for us at STET.

At STET, we believe our primary mission is to serve our clients today and anticipate the expectations of tomorrow.

We closely monitor market developments to provide the best possible support to our clients and assist them as their needs evolve.

In the fast-changing technological landscape, we pay close attention to new technical developments and business trends in the market. As a technology service provider, we facilitate our clients’ transitions into the future and offer them new services that deliver time-to-market efficiency.


Governance

STET brings next-generation solutions with open access and clear user policies.

Our governance approach empowers each of our clients communities to maintain full control over their CSMs. This means that STET distinguishes clearly between the management of a CSM and the management of its scheme-agnostic processing capabilities. Each has its own governance organization, ensuring balanced priorities:

  • The Board is responsible for managing the corporation. These responsibilities include overseeing STET’s corporate strategy, organization, investments, and future developments.
  • For our Clearing services, a governing body is established for each community. The governance and structure of these bodies are determined by their communities which have full control over payment instruments and the rules for processing or routing them. Individual banks are also taken into consideration. Our flexible Clearing services allow clients to opt for additional services, such as Instant Payment.
  • For our Card services, we have developed a flexible network of solutions that can be tailored to meet the evolving needs and requirements of the market.

A reliable partner of the European payments market

Our unique governance model, which engages all stakeholders and is supported by an open-access policy, enables all European banks to leverage our solid track record, robust system and network infrastructure, 24/7 processing capabilities and cost-efficient solutions.

Thanks to our clients continued support, we believe we are in a strong position to consolidate the European payments market from both a technical as well as business perspective.

Our comprehensive 360° service offering includes a Clearing system that can process a wide range of payment instruments, both domestic and SEPA, as well as a Routing and Authorization network. This ensures that we can support all means of payment.

Reachability is also a key issue for STET. This is why we are working on partnerships that will allow our clients to reach any counterpart within the SEPA area.

Finally, our clients enjoy our competitive pricing, which stems from optimized business processes and economies of scale generated by our large transaction volumes.

Board members

STET S.A. is owned by six major banks - BNP Paribas, BPCE, Crédit Agricole, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, La Banque Postale and Société Générale – joined by CB Investissements in 2016.

STET’s Board gathers 11 representatives of the Payment Industry:

Frédéric Burtz

Head of Payments at BPCE Digital & Payments | CEO of BPCE Payment Services.

Graduate from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Frédéric Burtz began his career with France Telecom (1993-1998) and then Capgemini (1999-2011). From 2011 to 2016, he was involved in the digital transformation of SNCF and contributed to the development of Voyages-sncf.com, France's leading e-commerce site.

In 2016, Frédéric Burtz joined Group BPCE as chief technology & innovation officer. Under his responsibility, BPCE accelerated its digital and technological transformation and supported the digitalization of its channels.

In 2021, Frédéric will be appointed Group Chief Innovation Officer. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of BPCE Payment Services in 2023 and is also CTO of BPCE Digital & Payments.

Jean-Paul Albert

Head of Cards at Société Générale Retail France.

Jean-Paul Albert has more than 20-year experience in Cards and Payments.

He joined Société Générale in 1998 where he has held various positions in payments and in marketing.

Jean-Paul Albert began his career as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and then worked in the credit card business unit of Citibank in Germany and Belgium.

As part of his role Jean-Paul is a board member of Groupement des Cartes Bancaires and of 441 Trust Company Ltd. (UK) and he seats on VISA French Client Council. He is also a member of Observatoire de la Sécurité des Moyens de Paiement.

Jean-Paul is a graduate of ESSEC Business school and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

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Philippe Laulanie

Chief Executive Officer - CB Card Scheme.

Philippe Laulanie is a graduate from the EM Lyon Business School and holds an MBA as well as a degree from the IHEDN (Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence).

Before being appointed to CB as Chief Executive Officer, he has spent most of his career working for BNP Paribas whom he joined in 1989 as Head of Marketing before rapidly moving on to other positions, both in France and abroad.

From General Inspection to Management Control, he has gained extensive knowledge of banking activities.

In 1997, he was entrusted with the task of devising a new distribution model for retail banking, via a multi-channel platform implemented across more than 15 countries.

In 2014, Philippe Laulanie was appointed Chairman of RMW (Retail Mobile Network), a subsidiary of BNP Paribas. This platform, co-designed with major retailers, aims to address the strategic challenges raised by the digitization of business, the simplification of customer experience and the creation of services.

Philippe Laulanie is also Vice-Chairman of the INRC (National Institute for Customer Relationship) and a member of the Board of EFMA

(European Financial Management Association).

Valérie Teissèdre

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole Payment Services since October 2016.

In 1986 Valérie Teissèdre began her career as an analyst in Information Systems at EDF. In 1987 she joined Crédit Lyonnais and held various management positions in major projects and extended management within the IT Department, where she was appointed Head of Steering in November 2006, then Director of Development in charge of banking products and services in June 2008. In October 2012 she was appointed Director of Project Management and Processes at LCL, and in May 2014, in addition to that, became IT Director. In July 2014, she became a member of LCL's General Management Committee. She joined Crédit Agricole Payment Services in October 2016 as Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of operations.

Valérie Teissèdre is a graduate of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers de Paris and holds a Diplôme d’Enseignement Supérieur Technique in IT specialization.

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Michel Vial

Head of Strategy and Development of BNP Paribas Group Head of Principal Investments

Graduate from Ecole Polytechnique, Michel Vial began his career at Arthur Andersen Consulting in 1982. He joined the BNP Group in 1985 where he worked initially in the Department of Mergers and Acquisitions / Capital Investments, specializing in the technology sector.

In 2008 Michel Vial became the Head of Retail Development, reporting to Jean-Laurent Bonnafé : in charge of BNPP Fortis merger and other projects in retail banking networks and financial services.

Since 2016 Michel Vial is a Board Member of the First Hawaiian Bank (USA), of the First Hawaiian Inc (USA) and of the 441 Trust Company Ltd (UK).

Marc Weiss

Marc Weiss is Head of Crédit Mutuel Payments Department.

His professional career got off to a unique start as a professional handball player during his studies and the following two years. In 1995, he joined the CIAL organization management team, focusing on international trade and the migration of the hosting platform.

In 2000, he became International Account Manager, specializing in documentary credits.

In 2003, he participated in the centralization of CIAL's foreign services and the merger with SNVB's international department to form CIC Est's international department.

In 2005, he was appointed Technical Manager for Documentary Credits, then National Manager for Documentary Activities.

In 2010, he became Head of the International Business Center (CMI), in charge of the various international transfer, credit and guarantee services.

In 2013, he took over as head of the Services Bancaires “Grands Comptes & Flux Corporate” department.

In 2015, he joined Global Payment Solutions and succeeded Claude Brun in 2017 as Head of the Payments department.

Passionate about sport, particularly handball, he applies the values he acquired in sport to his professional career such as the search of victory for the team thanks to each and everyone’s own qualities toward collective performance.

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Independent Administrator:

Sophie Lazarevitch

Sophie Lazarevitch is Independent Member of the Board of Directors of CA Auto Bank.

She began her career in 1982 as a consultant mainly for the financial sector, a sector which she joined in 1998 as Compliance Officer, CFO, at Euroland Finance. Then, from 2000, she held senior executive positions. From 2000 to 2005, she was CEO, member of the Management Board, in charge of Finance, Compliance, HR, Banking and IT Operations of Vega Finance then of Compagnie 1818. From 2009 to 2011, she became Deputy CEO in charge of Finance, Risks, Operational Efficiency, Legal for the business line in France and Luxembourg of Banque Privée 1818. From 2011 to 2013, she was Head of the Subsidiaries and Investments Department at Natixis, then, until 2017, becomes President of Natixis HCP and Head of the Corporate Data Solutions Division of Natixis, specialized in commercial information, debt collection and factoring. In 2017-2018, she joined the Management Board of Fidor Bank, Groupe BPCE's digital bank, based in Munich, Germany. Finally, she became Advisor to Natixis CFO until the summer of 2019 when she left the group to devote herself to her activities as an independent director.

Sophie Lazarevitch is a graduate of HEC Business School (France).

Patrick Renouvin

After graduating from Arts et Métiers (France), Patrick Renouvin began his career in 1980 as an IT engineer at G-CAM (now Inetum).

From 1986 to 1999, Patrick worked as a consultant within the banking and insurance industry ultimately becoming a Senior Manager at Bossard (now Capgemini).

From 1999 to 2012, Patrick leveraged his skills and expertise as Deputy Managing Director at Societe Generale International Retail Banking managing up to 40 subsidiaries. He also managed IT and back offices as Deputy CEO of Credit du Nord. During this period, Patrick held various responsibilities serving as a board member in several of Societe Générale’s subsidiaries abroad.

From 2012 to 2019, he was the Chief Information Officer of La Banque Postale and Réseau La Poste, the chairman of eZyness, an eMoney institution, a board member of Transactis and a member of Digiposte’s strategic committee.

Patrick Renouvin then concluded his career as Chief Operating Officer of Dexia Group in 2024.

Censor:

Geert Van Antwerpen

Chair of the Board of CEC-UCV Belgium.

Policy Advisor Payments at KBC Bank.

Geert Van Antwerpen started his career in 1993 at the Belgian savings bank HSA where he held different staff functions. After the merger with Centea he was appointed in 2001 as the manager of the Foreign Team where he was responsible for international payments, deposits in foreign currencies, Swift and correspondent banking.

As project leader he ensured a successful migration of the IT systems towards KBC. He became product manager at KBC in 2007 and participated to the launch of SEPA Credit Transfers and to the migration towards the SEPA direct debit. In his role of product manager, he represented KBC in different Belgian and European interbank working groups and task forces w.r.t. payments. In 2016 Geert joined the CEC-UCV Board of Directors of which he was appointed as chair in 2021. Currently he works as a policy advisor and follows the impact of payment related legislation like PSD2.

Geert Van Antwerpen has been appointed as “Censor” to the Board as from June 2022.

Bernard Gouraud

Bernard Gouraud started his career in 1974 at Banque Populaire Bretagne Atlantique as a Project Manager.

He was rapidly promoted within the Banque Populaire group, first as the Head of Innovation & Advanced Technologies, then as the Deputy Director of Research & Development.

After having served as the Director of Marketing & Technologies of 2 subsidiaries of the group, Bernard became successively IT Director in 2002, then Director of Technologies of the group in 2003. As such, he was responsible for IT projects, information security, business continuity as well as interbank relations and innovation regarding payment instruments.

In 2009, Bernard Gouraud is appointed as the IT & Technologies Director of BPCE (the new banking group resulting from the merger of Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne).

Beside these responsibilities, Bernard Gouraud has been a member of the EPC Plenary, and a board member of Allbiant It, Natixis Paiements, and CFONB.

With over 30 years' experience in IT optimization, Innovation, and Payment Services, Bernard Gouraud is an Independent Advisor since 2013.

General Management:

Régis Folbaum

Chief Executive Officer - STET.

Régis has been appointed as CEO of STET as of September 2023.

Prior to taking this role, he was the Head of Payments and a member of the Management Committee at La Banque Postale.

From 2012 to 2015, he was the General Manager of MasterCard France. Prior to 2012, he held several positions in the Financial Institutions Group of McKinsey & Co (Paris) and in the Mergers & Acquisitions teams of AGF-Allianz Group (Paris) and at Goldman Sachs (London & New York).

As part of his role, Régis is a member of French Banking Federation Payments Committee and of Banque de France Observatoire de la Sécurité des Moyens de Paiement.

Régis is also a member of the European Central Bank Market Advisory Group on the Digital Euro.

Régis is the former Chairman of FrenchSys and eZyness, a former Vice-President of GIE Carte Bancaire and Visa Europe France, a former Board member of STET and Transactis and a former member of Banque de France Conseil National des Paiements Scripturaux.

Régis Folbaum is a graduate from ESSEC Business School and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Rodolphe Meyer

Deputy CEO - STET.

Graduate of The National School of Electronics, IT and Telecommunications of Bordeaux (ENSEIRB), Rodolphe Meyer began his career at the Caisse de Prévoyance of French Polynesia.

Rodolphe has 30+ years of experience in Payments and is an expert at managing large projects and migrations in complex environments implying multiple international stakeholders.

From 1995 to 2006, he worked at Diamis (now Atos/Worldline) as Product Development Manager and participated, among other projects, in the tender for the development of the CORE system for STET.

In 2006, he put his payments expertise at the service of STET, first as Head of Infrastructure, then as Chief Technical Officer.

In 2016, he was appointed Business Development Director of STET, the newly created entity resulting from the merger of STET with SER2S (Switching subsidiary of Cartes Bancaires).

Since 2020, he has been Deputy General Manager of STET.

In 2021, he worked as leader of the Technical Entity Stream for EPI Interim Company to manage the overall architecture of the EPI System for Cards and SCTInst and has served as Senior Advisor for EPI since 2022.

Rodolphe is currently Chief Product Officer in charge of STET’s strategic projects along with Development and Client Relationship teams.

He is also a board member from EACHA.

History

Since STET's funding, our vision is that the payments market will retain national differences for several years. The reality of the European clearing market shows that it is multi-currency, multi-payment instruments - SEPA and non-SEPA including Cards - and consumer preference for these varies by community. That is the reason why we dedicate ourselves to serving the diverse needs of the market.

2004-2015: STET develops and operates the CORE system

In 2004, with the emergence of the SEPA, STET was created by a group of major French banks with the objective to undertake the development of a new platform that would meet the transformation and challenges the payments industry was set to undergo.

Built on years of experience and expertise, the CORE infrastructure was developed with the ambition to create an innovative payment platform for the future European market. This new platform aimed to deliver efficiency and security to a large-volume market, and to provide the required architectural flexibility to handle the diversity that would exist for many years.

CORE was successfully launched in January 2008 with the first SEPA SCT payment and hosted the migration of the full range of French payment instruments that were consolidated into a single clearing system.

In 2012, our European consolidation vision came true when the Belgian banking community entrusted STET with the processing, clearing and settlement of SEPA and non-SEPA payment instruments.

The implementation of the new Belgian CSM ended in March 2013.

From 2016 STET deepens its expertise in Cards by merging with SER2S and expanding its product lines

On December 18th 2015, STET merged with SER2S, becoming STET SA.

Since January 2016, STET operates the secure e-rsb transport network for cash withdrawal and payment authorization messages.

With the addition of this network, STET activities now include a strong expertise in cards, as well as the study, design, building and operation of networks and secure interchange and data processing systems, in the context of electronic payment systems.

These operations reinforce STET's strategy to deliver the payment market with state-of-the-art solutions in terms of real-time processing, security, and 24/7 availability.

In 2017, STET launched Instant Payment services that were proposed to the French and Belgian participants. This service complies with EPC requirements and offers European interoperability through TIPS and RT1. Instant Payment were much more quickly adopted in Belgium with 60 million transactions in 2019.

One year later, STET Digital Solutions were launched. This platform offers co-badged card digitization capabilities (in xPay and HCE) as well as payment tokenization services for merchants such as Card on File.

Hence, along with card authorization network, STET covers all use cases of tokenized payment with the same focus as traditional card payments.

In 2019, STET launched its fraud management solution which encompasses all payment rails (cards, SEPA and wallets) and provides scores for the entire payment process from authentication to pre-payment.

In 2023-25, in the wake of Cartes Bancaires Dynamique 2026 program, a new wave of banks onboarded STET Digital Solutions thus enabling digital and mobile payments for CB cards.

In 2024, STET acquired SEPAmail.eu to set-up an interoperable Verification of Payee (VoP) solution.

Key Figures

Transaction volumes

In 2024, STET processed 36.6 billion transactions.

0

Billion Transactions

for the French and Belgian Communities

Besides that, more than

0

Billion Transactions

were routed on our routing & authorization service

The CORE system processes the whole range of payment instruments on a large scale including all card transactions.

Card & ATM

0

Billion Transactions

processed on our CORE platform

In 2024, more than 13.73 billion transactions were routed through our routing and authorization service.

Our secure network for cash withdrawal and payment authorization messages is in France the reference network for all card types in France, including CB, Diners Club International, JCB, Mastercard, Visa.

Performance of the CORE system

Besides of that, more than

0

million transactions

processed on our CORE platform

The CORE system processes the whole range of payment instruments on a large scale including all card transactions.

Performance of our Card routing and autorization service

35.5 million transactions per day

on average with peaks up to 47.2 million

Processing capacity

2,500 transactions per second

Main characteristics of our card routing and authorization service

  • More than 50% of CB card transactions occurred in France involve an authorization request and transit via the e-RSB network
  • 32% of the activity (incoming + outgoing) is international
  • Annual infrastructure availability over 99.999%
  • Non completed transaction rate due to e-RSB: under 1 out of 1 million

Contribution to the industry

As we consider our ongoing dialogue with all the payment industry stakeholders is of great importance, STET is an active contributor to the European discussions and efforts to provide the market with harmonized payment solutions.

European Commitment

  • STET plays a significant part in the following forums, and taskforces:

EPC

  • Card Stakeholders Group Board (CSG),
  • Project Management Forum,
  • Scheme Technical Forum (ESTF).

ECB

  • ACH Task Force on Instant Payments

European Payments Stakeholders Group

  • STET is board member of the EPSG and participates in the Acquirer 2 Issuer Taskforce (A2I TF).

SWIFT

  • French Users Board of Directors
  • Technical Experts Group

EBA Association

  • STET is an Associate Member and participates in EBA Instant Payments Forum

Berlin Group

  • STET has a permanent Representative

Payments System Regulator (PSR) UK

  • PSR Strategy Forum

EACHA

As a founding member of the European Automated Clearing House Association (EACHA), STET is actively involved in the:

  • EACHA Innovation group
  • Technical taskforce
  • EACHA Payments Forum

Local Commitment

CFONB

  • Payment instruments Working Groups I & II
  • Standards Coordination Working Group
  • Certification and electronic signature Working Group
  • Regulation & Compliance Working Group

Banque de France

  • Crisis Committee
  • Stress tests

Fédération Bancaire Française

  • Payment Instruments Committee