Perago Africa renames itself Trustlink

Perago Africa today announced that the company will be renamed Trustlink. Perago Africa was established as an autonomous company in 2006 as part of the internationalisation and associated corporate restructuring of Perago Financial System Enablers (Perago FSE) (www.perago.com).

Since its establishment, Perago Africa positioned itself as a solutions and service provider in the inter-company business domain.

Perago Africa retained its status as regional representative for a number of international companies and service providers, including SWIFT (www.swift.com), Sterling Commerce (www.sterlingcommerce.com) and Eastnets (www.eastnets.com). Perago Africa also operates Trustlink, a leading SWIFT service bureau that provides SWIFT services to more than 70 institutions in South Africa and Africa.

Over time Perago Africa's business model has diverged from the business model of Perago FSE. As a result the company has decided to establish a clear independent brand for itself, which would align with its future vision and strategy, and that would also leverage on the strong brand and enviable reputation of their hosted SWIFT service bureau.

Hugo Smit (CEO: Perago Africa) says: "We have always been very proud of our roots in the Perago FSE group and wished to leverage on the international branding of the Perago group. We however found that our customers find it difficult to distinguish between the separate identities of Perago FSE and Perago Africa. This posed a significant challenge to establish an own identity for Perago Africa and hindered our ability to provide extended solutions and services to our customer base. Customers simply did not consider Perago Africa as a solution provider when such solutions were not related to the use of Perago FSE's software suite. At the same time Trustlink has gone from strength to strength as a service bureau. By renaming ourselves as Trustlink we want to leverage on the unique brand that we have painstakingly developed over the past few years, while at the same time positioning ourselves as an autonomous organisation that provides extended solutions and services."

Dr Philip Tromp, Chairman of Board of Perago Africa, agrees with Smit. "Perago FSE has established itself as a global leader in the provision of settlement and clearing systems. The services that Perago Africa provides extend beyond traditional clearing and settlement systems, however, and it has become necessary to re-position Perago Africa in order to confirm its independence of Perago FSE and to enable it to reach a broader customer base."

Smit emphasised that the renaming will not have any impact on existing customers, contracts and services. "We will maintain existing contracts, service obligations and we will retain all our staff and skills. It is really just about renaming the company in order to make it easier for customers to distinguish between the solutions delivery provided by Perago Africa and those that are provided by Perago FSE. And to position ourselves to extend our customer base and solutions offering beyond the space traditionally associated with the Perago name". The change in name will become effective as of 3 May 2010.