On-line banking

Pegasus Software pulled off a coup on the first morning of the Softworld last week when it assembled representatives from Lloyds, Barclays, Midland and the Royal Bank of Scotland to announce support for on-line banking links in its Opera package. NatWest pledged its support, too, but did not make the photocall.

Release 2.21 of Opera, due shortly, will allow users to issue payment instructions directly from the Opera Purchase Ledger, Cashbook and Payroll ledgers. The Opera facility is already available to users of the LloydsLink electronic banking system, but will be extended to Barclays’ Business Master II, Midland’s Hexagon, NatWest’s BankLine and RoyLink from RBS.

Sage, too, announced it is to add on-line banking links to its Payroll module. Sage already has a tie-in with Midland’s Hexagon software, but will now support LloydLink and NatWest BankLine.

Opera has built-in EDI capabilities for ten service providers as well as the Internet, said Pegasus sales and marketing director Chris Leak.

‘No users have gone for the Internet option yet, as they are still worried about security. But we’re ready for it,’ he said.