marketing

SWIFT Service Bureaus

2011

Buyer’S guIde

a buyer’s guide to SWIFT SerVICe BureAuS 2011

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Contents4 SWIFT for Corporates: State of Play

In order to reduce their risk exposure, corporates have to address the volatility in the marketplace, be it foreign exchange (FX) or commodity price fluctuations, or political and social turmoil in the Middle East.

7 Beyond the Pain By tackling cost and on-boarding complexity, and

providing much-needed expertise, today up to 70% of corporates are connecting to SWIFT via service bureaus.

10 expert opinion Christopher Leong, Fraser and Neave Group, and Martin

Bina, Caterpillar, talks about why they chose a service bureau and how SWIFT improves their business.

11 The SWIFTNet Project: Hurdles to Implementation How can corporates engage with banking partners to

get a SWIFTNet project off the ground?

13 A Look at the SWIFT Service Bureau Programme As fast access to cash visibility and multiple banking

partners has intensified, so has the corporate-to-bank market’s interest in SWIFT.

15 A SWIFT development? SWIFT value-added services have been enticing many

corporates to join SWIFT. What is currently on offer?

18 directory of service

Today just over 800 corporates are now connecting to their banks via SWIFT, and 70% of these are through a SWIFT service bureau. Interestingly, this option is becoming so popular that some corporates that started with direct connectivity are now looking to outsource to a service bureau.

This buyer’s guide examines the state of play of the SWIFT for Corporates offering, takes an in-depth look

at the pain points that service bureaus ease for corporates when trying to join SWIFT and also goes through SWIFT’s accreditation programme to ensure that a service bureau partners meet the minimum security standards, including secure operations, obligations of confidence, SWIFTNet interface qualification programme, outsourcing, hosting and verification of compliance.

Joy Macknight, editor, 2011 buyer’s guide to SWIFT service bureaus Editor: Joy Macknight [email protected]

Section Editor: Anne Petrie [email protected]

Publishing Manager: Mia Leaning [email protected]

Chief Executive: Mike Hewitt [email protected]

Art and design: Donna [email protected]

Sales Director: Anne-Marie Rice [email protected]

Client Relationship Director: Adela Buglass [email protected]

Business Development Manager: Katharine Christian [email protected]

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a buyer’s guide to SWIFT SERVICE BUREAUS 2011

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SWIFT Service Bureaus

2011

BUYER’S GUIDE

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It is 13 years since the Brussels-based messaging co-operative first addressed the corporate sector with the introduction of limited access to its global financial messaging network via a corporate treasury counterparty message type. This was followed in 2002 by the Member Administered Closer User Group (MA-CUG) category, which enabled corporates to exchange SWIFT messages with their main banks. The MA-CUG is a user group of companies that do business with a specific bank over the SWIFT network. The companies can communicate with the bank, but not with each other. A company can join as many MA-CUGs as it has banking relationships; the bank that created the MA-CUG administers it.

In 2006, SWIFT introduced the Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE), a closed user group administered by SWIFT, where

corporates can interact with financial institutions. SCORE also improved standardisation for the various messaging services within the corporate offering. As SWIFT’s corporate offering matured, banks have been moving away from developing proprietary solutions and have adapted solutions to extend them to their corporate clients who want to use SWIFT.

Today more than 800 corporations have access to SWIFT, including DuPont, Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Intel and Petronas.

“Interest in corporate access to SWIFT is in line with the overall preoccupation of corporates in the market,” says Elie Lasker, head of corporate market, SWIFT. “Fears about liquidity risk are driving corporates to get greater visibility of their accounts using the reach that SWIFT provides. Corporates

are also using SWIFT connectivity to mitigate counterparty risk, gaining greater agility to be able to change or route business to a new bank when necessary.”

Lasker says recent volatility in foreign exchange (FX) markets has also led to a resurgence in interest in SWIFT’s offerings such as Accord, which enables real-time matching and exception handling for FX, money market and derivatives confirmations.

“For the past two years, we’ve seen an acceleration of RFIs and RFPs and strong demand from corporate treasurers for SWIFT connectivity, particularly for service bureaus,” says Mark Mixter, global product manager, financial services, at GXS, a UK-based global business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce and integration services company that operates a SWIFT service

bureau. “Corporates are increasingly looking for a set of lifecycle services to manage their banking partners, including bank mapping, bank on-boarding, connectivity, integration to both ERP [enterprise resource planning] and treasury management systems [TMS] and comprehensive testing.”

SWIFT connectivity is the ideal approach for corporates with multiple bank relationships that want robust channels to access their accounts for transactions and for reporting, says Wilco Dado, head of global payments, global transaction services at The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). “Multi-bank connectivity is the main driver for corporates to access the SWIFT network. SWIFT access gives them the flexibility to switch from one bank to another, which has become more important since the financial crisis. While we haven’t seen much switching, corporates are generally more cautious and want the option of more than one banking partner in each region in order to spread the financial risk.”

Des Twort, treasury consultant at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA Merrill), identifies three reasons for corporates to implement SWIFT connectivity:

1. As part of a re-engineering exercise in which the corporate is investing in its ERP and TMS systems platform or building a share service centre or in-house bank.

2. To simplify and rationalise their current banking infrastructure, reducing the number of banking partner relationships and bank accounts globally.

3. To “keep up with the latest fashion”.

“Typically only the first two scenarios realistically will deliver a business case to justify the investment,” says Twort. “However, some clients have implemented SWIFT Alliance Lite just to dip their toe in the water to experience SWIFT and then decide on further investment in a service bureau.”

Of the connectivity options (see box 1, page 6), direct access is becoming less fashionable. “When SWIFT opened up corporate access the only available connectivity was the in-house, direct access model,” says Christoph Steifel, senior sales manager, corporate market, BBP, a SWIFT service bureau operator based in Baden. “However now with the availability of SWIFT service bureaus, there are not many arguments left to corporates to operate SWIFT infrastructure in-house.”

Steifel says banks and corporates with existing in-house solutions are migrating to service bureaus in order to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), while at the same time increasing reliability, serviceability and availability. New corporates joining SWIFT typically choose the indirect connectivity model, he adds, either through outsourcing to a service bureau or via Alliance Lite.

Conversely, says Bert Vanbrabant, head of service bureau at Brussels-based Atos Worldline, some Alliance Lite users are now opting for service bureaus. Early adopters that initially opted for direct access are now migrating to service bureaus because

they can outsource the specific technical know-how while realising cost benefits, he says. “Corporates that opted for Alliance Lite because they had limited budgets have discovered the real benefits of SWIFT lie in fully integrated end-to-end business flows. Alliance Lite does not cater for this, which is why a number of corporates are now migrating to a service bureau.”

A strong point in favour of service bureaus for SWIFT connectivity, says Dado, is that they help corporates with on-boarding to the SWIFT network and will undertake maintenance, including making any changes that are necessary when formats are changed, for example.

The service bureau route is not without its challenges - there are more than 140 organisations offering SWIFT bureau services, despite the fact, as Lasker points out, that “not any organisation can become a SWIFT service bureau”. SWIFT has a number of criteria and labels, such as SWIFTReady Connectivity, that are applied to service bureau. Of the total service bureaus, just six - Atos Worldline, BBP, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Bottomline (SMA Financial), SunGard and Syntesys - are cited by SWIFT as “experienced partners” that have a proven track record of helping corporates to do business with banks worldwide using the SWIFT network.

“There are quite a large number of service bureaus, not all of which are focused on

SWIFT for Corporates: State of PlayInterest in SWIFT among corporates has grown so much in the past two years, say bankers, that most RFPs and RFIs from corporate treasurers include a requirement for SWIFT connectivity. The increased interest has been driven by post-financial crisis concerns about liquidity management and counterparty risk as corporate treasuries seek greater visibility of their funds and to protect themselves from any future bank failures. Words: Heather McKenzie


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SWIFT enables corporates to obtain financial services, such as payments, treasury and securities orders, with all of their financial institutions through a single, secure and standardised communication platform. By joining SWIFT, corporates gain access to more than 8500 financial institutions in more than 200 countries.

There are three connectivity options for corporates, covering the largest multinational corporations down to small and medium-sized organisations that have relationships with multiple banks.

Direct access

SWIFT recommends this option for corporations that have specific security requirements, as it gives full control over systems security. It is also aimed at companies that need complete control over their IT environment, including storage of messaging data, because it can be delivered as a tailored solution. Organisations that generate a high volume of financial messages are also suited to this approach.

Companies taking this approach can use Alliance Access, which is SWIFT’s prime multi-platform messaging interface. Another option, Alliance Gateway, is a communication interface that shields the application and messaging components from the network connectivity. It allows users to concentrate and manage the flows of multiple messaging interfaces through one single interface, connecting to the SWIFT network via a single SWIFTNet Link instance.

Outsourced access – ‘off the shelf’

Firms that require an easy-to-operate IT environment and have limited messaging volumes are best served by this category of connectivity to SWIFT. The main offering in this category is Alliance Lite, a packaged solution that delivers functionality via a web browser on a standard PC.

The attraction of Alliance Lite is in its fast deployment, ease of installation and operation and cost effectiveness, says SWIFT.

Outsourced access – tailored

There are two options available for corporates in this category - a service bureau for corporates or a member concentrator.

A service bureau will manage a corporate’s SWIFT connectivity, tailoring the implementation to specific needs. It will take on the support and maintenance of the SWIFT connection, shielding corporates from systems and standards upgrades.

Member concentrators are SWIFT members that use their existing SWIFTNet infrastructure to offer services to their institutional and corporate clients. They typically take care of the SWIFT administration, the connection to SWIFTNet and possibly some of the message transformation, therefore reducing the TCO of these smaller users.

Corporate Connectivity in NumbersNumber of corporates as of end April 2011: 807Connectivity options chosen by corporates:

• Service bureau/shared connectivity: 69%

• Alliance Lite: 23%

• Direct: 8%

corporates. For this reason, we have come out with a number of criteria specifically for SWIFT for Corporates service bureaus, including a minimum number of corporate clients, the ability to do bank on-boarding and other functions specific to corporates,” says Lasker.

In choosing a service bureau, says BBP’s Steifel, corporates should consider whether

the bureau can provide round-the-clock, global support. “Service level agreements [SLAs] are becoming more and more important as corporates implement SWIFT on a global scale and not only for treasury but also for commercial and bulk payments,” he says. A bureau should also adhere to globally accepted audit standards (SAS 70 Type II) for

outsourcers and service bureau certifications, which are mandatory public multinationals that must comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) or comparable regulations.

“Multinational corporations want to harmonise their current proprietary banking connectivity on a global scale, and they want to roll out SWIFTNet connectivity to all of their operations around the globe,” says Steifel. “That requires partners and service bureaus with global reach, support and local interfaces and delivery organisations.”

Twort says in addition to checking if a service bureau has SWIFTReady certification, a corporate should also examine the history and track record of the provider, its financial position and stability, implications of possible acquisition of the service provider and whether the bureau can deliver scalability in a timely manner to support growth of the corporate’s business.

Geographic coverage is an essential criterion, says GXS’s Mixter for evaluating SWIFT providers, particularly when most corporates have global needs and want to keep their options open for the future. In addition, “integration experience is a must-have consideration, since SWIFT connectivity is really about integrating the daily financial flows with your banking partners, across firewalls, time zones and back office systems.”

In the early days of SWIFT corporate access, some banks reportedly feared that corporates would use the network to communicate directly with each other, thus disintermediating banks. Lasker says it was more a case of banks being concerned that they would not be ready with services to meet the expected demand. “This has changed now with a large number of financial institutions able to deliver their services over SWIFT. A number of banks have been aggressively promoting SWIFT access to their corporate clients through road shows and workshops,” he says. “These moves have positioned SWIFT with other channels for corporates, as banks realise there is real demand out there from multi-banked corporates for a single channel to communicate with banks.”

While SWIFT’s offering for corporates has remained fairly static in the past few years, banks are more geared up to service corporates over SWIFT than they were 18 months ago, says Atos Worldline’s Vanbrabant. “For years a number of global transaction banks have been promoting services over SWIFT, but only in the past year have they seemed to be ready to deliver.”

The high cost of implementation and complexities surrounding the SWIFT application process, as well as the headache of maintaining in-house expertise, are the main reasons why corporates have historically thought twice about using SWIFT for bank connectivity.

But once a corporate has made the commitment, the benefits of a single pipeline to multiple banks are obvious: SWIFT connectivity provides improved cash visibility, security and control, compared with siloed banking platforms. These benefits go to the heart of corporates’ cash flow pain today, which stems from poor oversight and control of cash balances held in multiple accounts with different banks.

“The recent financial crisis has underlined the importance of having accurate and up-to-date visibility of cash balances and being able to move money in a timely manner, given heightened counterparty risks and the focus on liquidity. This basic cash management capability is a fundamental requirement for achieving efficient liquidity and working capital management,” says Marcus Hughes, director of business development, Bottomline Technologies.

In order to get over the hurdles, an increasing number of corporates are looking to outsource their SWIFT connectivity to a service bureau because it is easier and more cost effective. According to Hughes, this outsourcing trend is accelerating due to traditionally small and independent bureaus joining larger technology groups, thereby offering greater comfort regarding financial stability and continuity. For example, Bottomline, which provides payments and invoice automation software and services to corporates and financial institutions, acquired SWIFT service bureau SMA Financial in October 2010.

“The trend now is for corporates with multi-banking needs to outsource connectivity from

the start. SWIFT statistics indicate that up to 70% of corporates joining SWIFT in recent years are choosing to connect through a bureau,” he explains.

Dr Markus Warncke, treasurer at Villeroy & Boch, a SWIFT Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE) member that implemented Broadridge’s service bureau in 2007, believes that service bureaus are helping overcome the hurdles facing corporates by providing:

• Cost reduction (return on investment (ROI) and internal business case).

• Expertise (no internal staff required).

• Infrastructure.

• Explanation around SWIFT and help finding the right level of SWIFT usage.

• Experience and help during SWIFT application process.

• Experience and help during contract negotiation phase with banks.

• Information on SWIFT changes and upgrades.

Cost savings

The primary reason for corporates to engage a service bureau for SWIFT connectivity is the cost, according to Joergen Jensen, director at Nasarius, a treasury, cash management and payments consultancy firm. Implementing and managing SWIFT connectivity can be expensive for corporates and requires highly specialised SWIFT skills.

Therefore, for most companies, it is cheaper to use a service bureau than to install the direct SWIFTNet connection in-house. “Plus, most companies’ IT departments are not interested in another system located in-house that requires a certain number of people with special training and knowledge,” Jensen adds, which ties into another hurdle faced by corporates - getting buy-in from other parts of the business for a major IT project. Setting up SWIFTNet connectivity in-house is normally seen as more carrying a higher risk than a service bureau solution. Service bureaus also offer auxiliary services, which might bring additional value.

Beyond the PainBy tackling cost and on-boarding complexity, and providing much-needed expertise, today up to 70% of corporates are connecting to SWIFT via service bureaus. Are service bureaus the panacea for corporates’ connectivity pain? Words: Joy Macknight

SWIFT Connectivity Options


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Corporates also benefit from economies of scale derived from the service bureau’s customer base. “The more volume a service bureau has, the more companies can share the same infrastructure and the cheaper bureau can offer its services,” says Jensen. “This aspect has, in our experience, also kicked off an intensified competition among the service bureaus to become a large service provider with sufficient volume to support their operations and business model.”

Marco Lauber, head of international sales at BBP, agrees: “We deliver service at a much better price than if a corporate built the infrastructure by itself. Also it is relatively expensive for a corporate to hire people with specialised know-how, whereas BBP employees are specialists in this area and we can therefore distribute this cost over a large number of entities.”

In terms of numbers, Lee Carey, head of operations, Australia, New Zealand and south Pacific, Decillion Group, estimates that a service bureau can typically provide a 25%-35% cost savings as compared to a direct connection. “The service bureau pricing structure is flexible and can accommodate the different financial requirements of individual corporate customers,” he says.

The basic pricing model for most service bureaus is a one-time implementation fee for connection, which is a fraction of the direct connectivity set-up costs which can be upwards of €150,000, including hardware and software for primary and contingency sites. The implementation fee includes the corporate’s own bank identifier code (BIC), or SWIFT code, plus everything needed to get the corporate up and running on SWIFTNet. In addition, there is usually a monthly or annual subscription fee relating to transaction volumes, maintenance and support.

Reducing on-boarding complexity

One of the major issues surrounding SWIFT connectivity is the complex legal documentation for SWIFT membership, which can still be quite onerous and drawn out, despite attempts by SWIFT to streamline the process. If a corporate is new to SWIFT, it is entering an unfamiliar world and will need to deploy much time and effort to understand the language and processes. A service bureau can help the corporate with on-boarding application forms for SWIFT membership.

Decillion’s Carey explains that service bureaus are staffed with SWIFT-certified experts who “hold the hand” of the corporate through every step of the on-boarding process. Wilco Dado, head of global payments, global transaction services (GTS), RBS agrees that a good service bureau will sit down with the client to fully

understand what they are looking to achieve in terms of formats and processes. “Only when you fully understand what the client is trying to achieve can you start to deliver a bespoke solution. Significant value can be added by customising the solution to match the clients exacting needs, whether this is around the payments authorisation process, the format or even the report formats,” he says.

But the on-boarding process needs to begin with SWIFT experts helping the customer to assess whether SWIFT connectivity is the most suitable solution for their needs, argues Bottomline’s Hughes. “During this dialogue we help the customer decide which SWIFT membership scheme is most appropriate. The three principal schemes are: Treasury Counterparty, MA-CUG [Member Administered Closed User Group] and SCORE,” he says. Each of these schemes has different benefits and features, and some corporates will opt to join more than one scheme.

Senior vice president at Axletree Solutions, Martin Lightman, explains the practical detail of on-boarding: “We set up a webinar with the company that wants to join SWIFT and run through the on-boarding process with them, so that they know exactly how to fill out the forms and what to sign. They then send these to us and, after we have determined that everything is correct, we forward the forms to Brussels with our signatures.”

According to Nasarius’ Jensen, a corporate should split the on-boarding process into two distinct parts: the technical on-boarding of SWIFTNet and the on-boarding of the banks. “Service bureaus have expertise in the technical SWIFTNet connectivity and can also help with the formatting of both inbound and outbound messages, as well as setting up of a secure connection between the corporate and the service bureau. Furthermore, service bureaus are a great help in getting the SWIFT certificates and security keys, as they usually have excellent connections to SWIFT,” he explains.

The second part, the on-boarding of banks, can be aided by specialised treasury consultants, ensuring a structured process where the banks sign a SCORE agreement with the corporate. “Then the switchover to SWIFTNet connectivity is done properly and in a timely manner for the relevant payment systems and ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems,” Jensen says. “A structured approach is important to ensure correct timing and reduced implementation costs.”

Carey estimates that on-boarding should take as little as two months, and that the longest part of the process is actually the SWIFT membership, approval and administration process.

Once SWIFT connectivity has been implemented

via a bureau, it is essential to have ongoing maintenance to ensure the connection is operating at peak efficiency, says Hughes. “The SWIFT environment is dynamic with periodic infrastructure upgrades or changes to messaging formats. A good partner will be able to demonstrate it has supported service bureau clients for a number of years. Long-term relationships also indicate the partner has supported clients through such initiatives as SWIFTNet Phase II, SWIFT Alliance RMA, ISO 15022 and 20022 standards,” he says.

A proactive service bureau partner will provide regular updates and flag up any impending deadlines. This will ensure that mandatory projects have high visibility and a planned schedule of work can be discussed and agreed to meet project objectives well in advance.

The future of service bureaus

SWIFT’s declared objective to get 5,000 corporates onto SWIFT by 2015 is quite an ambitious target, particularly in light of the fact that it has taken nine years to sign up just over 800 corporates. In order to make this goal a reality, SWIFT is going to have to become more attractive to a lower tier of corporates - and service bureaus seem to be one solution to this problem.

“In the beginning, it was primarily very large corporates using or considering SWIFT for bank communication,” says Nasarius’ Jensen. “There remains a myth in the market that SWIFT is only for these very large companies. However, once smaller companies with a turnover of less than €500m start looking into SWIFTNet connectivity, they discover that is may also be the best way for them to communicate with their banks.”

The benefits of SWIFTNet are less connected to the size of the company, compared with its operational set up and the number of banks it interacts with. Jensen adds: “Nasarius has, for example, supported a retail company with an annual turnover of €500m and branches in

several European countries in making a strong business case for implementing SWIFTNet connectivity despite hesitation from the company in the beginning.”

Kurt Vandebroek, vice president, product management, SunGard, agrees. “Lower in the market, it is true that the business profile of the client drives adoption, such as multi-bank, multi-country, etc. In saying that, however, we have now seen one company that has only one bank go through SWIFT because they believe that they need to have the agility to move to another bank if they had to, and SWIFT helps them with that.”

To drive SWIFT adoption and become more attractive to corporates of different sizes, Villeroy & Boch’s Warncke believes that service bureaus need to expand their remit by:

• Integrating internal workflows into the service bureau (i.e. approval process, dual verification principle, reporting, audit trail, history, monitoring, etc).

• Providing additional value-add services (i.e. matching function, international payment factory etc).

• Reducing the risk due to back-up functions for treasury data in treasury management systems (TMS) or SAP (i.e. in case the TMS or SAP is not working, etc).

SunGard’s Vandebroek believes that the market will go the way of service bureaus. “I think there is no longer the question of ‘why?’ for service bureaus. My view is that the only viable option is a ‘SWIFT inside’ concept, in that applications use SWIFT and a corporate can have multiple connections with a number of vendors. I believe more in that model than having all applications centralised and connected to one service bureau. And as such, the focus will be much more on services, for example eBAM [electronic bank account management], treasury payments, matching, cheque printing, etc. Now you are starting to see integrated solutions that have all those aspects, and SWIFT connectivity is a part of that.”

A structured approach is important to ensure correct timing and reduced implementation costs


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1. Why did you choose to use a SWIFT service bureau?

When the company began to see the benefits of having a SWIFT connection, we conducted a study to evaluate the most economical and efficient means for such a connection. We evaluated both the private infrastructure (via owned connection) option and a shared infrastructure (via a service bureau). We decided on using a service bureau (Decillion) for the following reasons:• A service bureau is operated by skilled

and trained SWIFT-certified experts.• Simple and easy implementation.• Short time to market.• Lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Before implementing SWIFT, we had various arrangements for communicating with banking partners through our six treasury centres, as well as proprietary tools for accounts payable (A/P) at the business unit level. We needed to establish a standard approach to connectivity across the business, including both treasury and A/P. We did not consider direct connectivity to SWIFT (i.e. hosting the infrastructure internally), as the cost and resource requirement was considered prohibitive. Our preferred supplier for treasury technology, SunGard, is also a hosting provider, service bureau and member concentrator for SWIFT, with considerable expertise, so we chose to work with them.

2. How has SWIFT connectivity helped to improve your cash management?

SWIFT connectivity allows our banks to communicate with us through a trusted and secure channel that is globally adopted by the financial industry. Through SWIFT, we receive our statements and cash movements in a timely and consistent manner. It has also broadened our foreign exchange (FX) reach to other counterparties and trading partners who require confirmations over SWIFT. With SWIFT, banks are able to automate the statements to their corporate customers and increase straight-through processing (STP). As a result, banks should lower the statement charges to corporates, as there are already substantial savings in streamlining their processes through SWIFT. This is an area we would like to see materialise from banks.

Our treasury centres are now fully operational on SWIFT for treasury payments and reporting. This has provided us with greater transparency and accuracy. We continue our rollout of SWIFT connectivity for A/P across the business and expect to derive additional benefits, particularly control and visibility over A/P processes. Currently, with different systems in place at each business unit, there is fragmentation and a lack of standardisation across the business, which will be resolved once we have fully rolled out our payments system and SWIFT. In addition, as our payments system is integrated with our treasury management system (TMS), we have full access to cash position information, replacing the existing arrangement where business units email treasury with their cash requirements or surpluses.

3. How will the development of electronic bank account management (eBAM) improve the efficiency of your treasury?

This is an area that we are studying and the onus is really on the banks to guide the corporates in this new solution. eBAM promises considerable benefits to corporates who has numerous bank accounts. However, its success is largely dependent on the ability of banks in adoption of eBAM processes and guiding the corporates in its roll out.

In addition to using SWIFT for cash management, we are attracted to the potential optional convenience and control that eBAM offers, and we will consider this once we have fully on-boarded our banks and rolled the solution out to our business units. eBAM will help automate and standardise our bank account management, making us more efficient, further reducing our costs and helping us to further reduce risk.

4. How does connecting to SWIFT help to mitigate risk?

SWIFT is the global standard for financial messaging that is adopted by almost all banks. Joining a single network to reach all other banks reduces our proprietary network connections and in turn helps lowers our costs and risks in the areas of control, authentication and authorisation. Having a single channel allows better visibility and better control over our sent and received financial messages.

Centralising and standardising the connectivity to our banks has created a more secure environment, as there is inherently less risk in operating one connection from one location, as opposed to many connections from various parts of the world. Also, our payments system is integrated with our TMS, so we have full access to cash position information. This replaces the existing arrangement where business units email treasury with their cash requirements or surpluses. It also reduces the risk of fraud, as well as errors and misreporting.

Expert opinion

Christopher Leong, head, group treasury, Fraser and Neave Group

Martin Bina, treasury operations manager, EMEA, Caterpillar

For corporates, connecting to SWIFT is a means to an end: independent, (multi)bank connectivity makes sense only to the extent that a corporate exchanges financial messages and files across the network with its banking partners. Whereas as late as at Sibos Copenhagen in 2004 banks still generally perceived SWIFT for Corporates as ‘yet another interface into the back office’, today most banks do see it as the wave of the future.

As of May 2011, some 800 corporates, making up more than 10% of the total bank identifier codes (BICs), have implemented SWIFTNet connectivity. Adoption rates will most certainly accelerate over the next few years as SWIFTNet bank connectivity becomes mainstream and the total cost of ownership (TCO) comes down.

These statistics do not imply that linking up with banking partners is already a plug-and-play exercise. Companies that have a SWIFTNet project in place will typically admit that the project stream dealing with the banks can be a true pièce de résistance. This article covers some of the issues one may encounter in this respect.

The SWIFTNet project

A SWIFTNet project typically consists of three project streams:

1. Application process with SWIFT to obtain a BIC.

2. Implementing the technical infrastructure to link the company’s network with SWIFT.

3. Agreement with banking partners as to how to use the SWIFTNet infrastructure.

Stream 1 and 2 are often merged as part of the implementation of a SWIFT service bureau or

SWIFT Alliance Lite.

Stream 3 is usually broken down in mini-projects by bank, and ideally should be initiated as early in the project as possible because experience has shown that the lapse time of such mini-projects takes longer than one imagines.

Treasurers typically initiate discussions around the possibility of a SWIFTNet project with their bank account managers. However, although their understanding is expanding, not all account managers have the in-depth knowledge about multi-bank connectivity, compared with the specialised departments in charge of client connectivity. SWIFT expertise is specialised knowledge that is still not widely spread across client-facing staff. This implies that it can take some negotiation and rounds of meetings before a corporate establishes contact with the right people within the bank. To help with this problem, SWIFT provides a comprehensive list with all banks offering SWIFTNet connectivity, often including a prime specialist contact.

Contacting this person directly or providing their details to the account manager might help cut short the discussion time.

A recent development that we have noticed is that banks are becoming less resistant to the idea of multi-bank connectivity. Since the crisis, banks understand that corporates need to diversify their cash management business across a lending consortium for reasons of reciprocity and operational risk mitigation.

Contrary to some conservative banks’ philosophy, we believe that non-adoption of multi-bank

connectivity - rather than adoption - is a threat to the corporate relationship. Similar to the banking strategy of multinationals in the 1990s, smaller and local banks that do not comply to corporate standards will ultimately lose companies’ cash management business.

Harmonisation hurdles in implementation

The next stage in the mini-project is defining proper services and agreeing on commercial terms and conditions. There are so many variables and a lot of jargon for defining services that one can easily become dazed and confused. For example, MT940 bank statements can be delivered via FIN. However, often a FIN-delivered MT940 is slightly different that the MT940 you currently receive via the bank’s proprietary electronic banking (ebanking) application. Furthermore, there are limitations to the length of the regular FIN MT940. FIN MT940s may also be delivered as a combined file via FileAct and, in that case, the length restrictions might be lifted.

Many questions crop up, such as: what bank BIC can be used so that SWIFT charges the traffic from a US entity to the bank branch in France as domestic messages? Will the bank and corporate participate in Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE), or will the company become a member of the Member Administered Closed User Group (MA-CUG)?

The overriding variable in these discussions are the banks’ limitations in terms of technical set up of its middleware and back office systems.

Similarly to service agreements, banks differ in their approach to pricing of SWIFT-based

Multi-bank Connectivity: The SWIFT Way Over HurdlesHow should corporates engage with their banking partners to get a SWIFTNet project off the ground? Words: Bas Rebel, Zanders Treasury and Finance Solutions


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Over the past few years, SWIFT has stepped up its game in the corporate-to-bank space. By introducing new tools, such as electronic bank account management (eBAM), SWIFT Secure Signature Key (3Skey), Accord for Corporates, etc, and enhancing core messaging and connectivity solutions, SWIFT is making it easier and more affordable for corporates of all sizes to join SWIFT.

By the end of 2009, there were approximately 500 corporates on SWIFT. Today, the SWIFT for Corporates business has grown by 60%, with more than 800 corporates on the network. A few years ago, some in the industry would have argued that corporates’ interest in SWIFT was limited and was a direct result of the cash management issues related to the financial crisis. However, as SWIFT continues to enhance its corporate offering through new tools and connectivity options, the market seems eager to take advantage of the efficiencies SWIFT can bring to the table.

Selecting the right service bureau

In terms of the service bureau programme, SWIFT has taken several steps to ensure that its service bureau partners meet the minimum security standards, including secure operations,

obligations of confidence, SWIFTNet interface qualification programme, outsourcing, hosting and verification of compliance. Service bureaus that comply with the ‘best-in-class’ operational requirements obtain a SWIFTReady Connectivity ‘Best Practice’ label. Service bureaus with such a label are promoted and published on SWIFT.com. These best-in-class operational requirements include more stringent availability, security, resilience, non-repudiation and guaranteed message deliveries.

Not all SWIFT service bureaus are alike - some solely provide the connectivity, while others offer a fully-managed outsourced solution, including hosting the infrastructure and supporting technical operations. In addition, many service bureaus are developing value-add services and applications such as data enrichment, transformation, reporting or light treasury applications that overlap with existing systems in the treasury back office. It is up to a corporate to select the best service bureau to meet its needs, but SWIFT does offer a service bureau for corporates programme. This is a list of accredited service bureaus with a proven track record of successful implementation in the corporate to bank space. These service bureaus have

to show they have successfully completed several corporate-to-bank projects and must support FIN and FileAct within SWIFT Corporate Environment (SCORE).

For service bureaus that go above and beyond the minimum requirements, SWIFT also offers a shared infrastructure label programme, which helps users identify shared infrastructure providers that host and operate their own connectivity and meet the levels of service quality, security and resiliency that are higher than the mandatory minimum requirements. There are two labels: operational assurance label and the SWIFTReady connectivity label.

The operational assurance label is a self-certification label that is available to shared infrastructure providers that meet a pre-defined set of operational requirements set by SWIFT. The SWIFTReady connectivity label is available to shared infrastructure providers that meet the best practice criteria as defined by SWIFT. This is an intensive process that requires an on-site inspection by SWIFT to verify compliance with best practice criteria. SWIFT also will do ad hoc inspections with other providers as warranted to verify that

A Look at the SWIFT Service Bureau ProgrammeAs fast access to cash visibility and multiple banking partners has intensified, so has the corporate-to-bank market’s interest in SWIFT.Words: Juan Martinez, SWIFT

communication. Some banks position SWIFT as an alternative to their ebanking systems and have harmonised pricing to some extent. Others position SWIFTNet connectivity as an add-on to existing bank proprietary channels and will propose additional changes on top of the existing ebanking charges. Some banks will separately charge for the MA-CUG membership.

These differences make the overall cost of SWIFT-based bank communication to some extent opaque and confusing to a prospective company.

Finally, a company and its bank need to agree on a legal contract governing the SWIFT-based communication. Finalising the bank contracts typically requires substantial work and discussions with the bank and legal counsels. Each bank takes a different approach to a contract. Some banks extend their existing ebanking contract to cover SWIFT-based communication, while others tailor the SWIFT-provided SCORE templates. The different approaches banks take in this matter, however, confuse many a company lawyer. In any case the legal department needs to review each contract on its own merits, even when they are derived from the same template.

Irrespective of the contract format, most lawyers also struggle with the limitations in warranties that banks put in the contract and

Figure 1: Distribution of Responsibilities with Traditional Bank Communication

Figure 2: Distribution of Responsibilities with SWIFT-based Bank Communication

Source: SWIFT

Source: SWIFT

which they do not negotiate. In all cases they exclude responsibility for events that might happen between a message or file leaving the company network and arriving at their network and visa versa. Typically they will refer to ACK/NACK and other status messages are residing on the network, irrespective whether the message has arrived back to the corporate network. The implication is that there can be a difference between perceived realities by the two contracting parties in case of a dispute. In case of a traditional ebanking contract, this issue does not exist because the company typically releases a transaction from processing on the network of the bank (see Figures 1 and 2).

The next hurdle is the implementation of agreed message and file standards. SWIFT MT messages are a format standard and do

standardise content to some extent only. This implies that reference fields are used in many different ways. The consequence is that a project concerning multiple banks, need to be able to accommodate the variations by bank. XML is making this burden less cumbersome, but does not take it away completely.

Furthermore, companies cannot rely on the assumption that their existing ebanking tool will provide an MT940 that is identical to the one they will receive from the same bank via the SWIFT network. Also the payment files to be delivered to the banks will need to be configured properly based on documentation provided by banks.

The consequence is that a project involving SWIFT-based communication also includes modifications to the configuration of payment and reconciliation process in the treasury management system (TMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. All these modifications to internal systems need to be tested carefully (unit testing and acceptance testing).

Each banking group has its own policies, procedures and sign-off for this. For example, some banks have dedicated test services, but these only open during certain time windows per month. One particular bank works with a window of two weeks per month and an error feedback cycle of a few days. This implies that a delayed delivery of a test file might imply that the company will be unable to do a second round of testing during the same test window with potential impact on the project time lines.

Conclusion

With the expression ‘better safe than sorry’ in mind, corporate treasurers who consider a SWIFTNet project should involve their banking partners early on in the project so that contact with the right specialists is established well in advance, and the bank’s policies and procedures towards implementation and testing is fully understood and incorporated in the overall project plan. While some of the examples used in the article might be extreme, failing to do so will inadvertently cause delays in the overall project delivery.



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providers are in compliance with the shared infrastructure guidelines.

At a minimum, shared infrastructure providers need to comply with operational requirements in the domain of availability of connection, security and access control, network configuration, integrity and change management.

Availability of connection

Each shared infrastructure provider must ensure that a customer service level agreement (SLA) is in place that defines measurable availability objectives including hours of service, response times, escalation-report times, and associated reporting. The SLA contracts must be kept uptodate and customers must have agreed to the most up-to-date versions.

SLAs are part of contractual agreements between the shared infrastructure provider and the users that specify the quality of service and document the responsibilities and expectations of each party. The SLA activities specified are the result of service delivery processes and organisational behaviour. SLAs must, therefore, state objectives that can be measured and monitored to ensure they are maintained to agreed levels. Each shared infrastructure provider must cater to the following in their SLA:

• Scope of service.• Roles and responsibilities, including all

change management procedures also detailing roles and responsibilities.

• Service specification.• Service offerings.• Service availability including fallback.• Access to critical service availability

information, including business continuity plan, list of authorised personnel, and incidents reporting.

• Service reporting.• Delegation to a shared security officer, as

appropriate.• Disaster recovery (DR).• Charges and invoicing.• Legal information.

Additional availability requirements include, compliance to SWIFT service availability requirements, adequate reporting on service ability, resilient infrastructure, and reliable operations.

Security and access control

Upon request, each provider must maintain and communicate to customers a list of personnel authorised to operate or have

access to the SWIFT infrastructure on their behalf. Other attributes include:

Physical securityPhysical access to the SWIFT infrastructure must be restricted to the provider’s authorised personnel, or when absolutely required, other parties accompanied by authorised personnel. The names of these parties must be logged and communicated upon request to the customers as soon as practical. If a provider is using the services of a recognised and reputable hosting company for hosting non-critical operations with the prior agreement of SWIFT, then physical access must be restricted to the provider’s authorised personnel or the hosting company’s authorised personnel as agreed and logged in the SLA between the provider and the hosting company. The names of these parties must be logged. Each provider must maintain this list and provide it, upon request, to their customers.

Logical accessLogical access to the provider’s SWIFT interface and underlying operating system must be restricted to authorised personnel referred to in the authorised personnel rule.

Cryptographic keysAccess to the private PKI keys must be restricted to security officers designated by the customer only. If the security officers designated by the customer are the provider’s personnel, then any disabling, revoking, creation, usage of the private PKI keys and certificates, and changes in the user profile (defined in the context of role-based access control (RBAC) by the provider) must be performed according to strict procedures agreed upon between the provider and the customer, restricted to the provider’s authorised personnel, recorded in an audit trail, and reported upon request to the customer. Modification, initiation, and termination of cryptographic secrets and arrangement by the provider must be performed according to strict procedures agreed between the service bureau and the customer, restricted to authorised personnel, recorded in an audit trail and reported upon request to the customer.

Encryption Communications traffic between the customer’s site and the provider’s SWIFT infrastructure must be authenticated, protected against modification and encrypted.

User dataAccess to and modification of a customer’s data

(such as traffic, message and configuration data) during transport on a network must be encrypted to current best practice industry standards and restricted to the customer and to the provider’s authorised personnel covered in the authorised personnel rule.

Network configurationEach provider must ensure that the network access configuration, up to the customer’s premises, complies with all mandatory configuration specification in the Network Access Control Guide, which is provided by SWIFT.

Integrity When the customer outsources the monitoring of its messaging to a provider, the provider must agree with the customer on the processes to handle alerts in case of error and reports on data processing received from SWIFT (for example, ACK/NAK messages and non-delivery reports).

SWIFT standardsThe shared infrastructure provider must implement SWIFT standards releases at least three months before standards release changeover, to allow the customers to test in testing and training mode.

Security upgradesThe shared infrastructure provider must implement promptly any security patch within the time frames issued by SWIFT.

Message interfaceIf a shared infrastructure uses a messaging interface other than a SWIFT interface, that is to say the Alliance portfolio, then the messaging interface must be qualified by SWIFT.

Conclusion

For SWIFT, the service bureau programme represents an opportunity to expand its reach in to new markets, segments and geographies. It offers the flexibility for companies to outsource the managing and maintenance of a SWIFT infrastructure, if it chooses, and focuses resources on its core competencies.

SWIFT is changing its approach and is no longer a one-size-fits-all model. It is expanding its capabilities and becoming a more flexible organisation, with the desire to become an integral part of the corporate-to-bank ecosystem worldwide.

Watch this space as SWIFT continues to enhance its SWIFT for Corporates programme.

Long on the transaction banking industry’s radar, SWIFT value-added services finally appear to be gathering pace. For example, this year SWIFT is piloting an electronic bank account management (eBAM) central utility or ‘hub’ to help the consistent global adoption of eBAM standards. In preparation, SWIFT introduced ISO 20022 XML messages in May 2010 to standardise the key information needed for eBAM.

SWIFT’s electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) capabilities are another value-added service that some vendors are starting to explore, while exceptions and investigations (E&I) processing has been on software vendors’ radar for some time. The project is part of SWIFT’s 2015 development strategy in the corporate-to-bank space.

But are corporates ready? There are currently only around 800 corporate members of SWIFT and many argue that wider SWIFT adoption needs to happen to drive the development of value-added services. Conversely, others argue that the demand for eBAM is already driving increased SWIFT adoption.

Increasing adoption

Some SWIFT service bureaus (SSBs) started off offering services to the banking industry and have now branched out to corporate

customers. For example, Expertus’ solution has been live since 2007, and has 20 customers including banks, fund managers and credit unions. In May 2011, the company launched a specific platform for corporate customers and one corporate is already live. Jacques Leblanc, managing director at Expertus, says: “We started with the banking community because that was where the opportunity was. Now many corporate customers are looking to use SSBs because they want to connect to their banks through SWIFT, but joining SWIFT is a complex project. I would say that the reason 80% of corporates join through a SSB is because SWIFT is so complicated.”

Leblanc believes that the reason more corporates are looking to SWIFT is because they have “many bank accounts around the world and want to centralise their treasury operation. SWIFT makes sense as a way of doing that.”

Expertus also offers value-added services such as electronic payments (e-payments) as cheque usage declines. “Our customers want to send payments of all sizes and types to banks around the world,” he notes. Expertus uses a proprietary cloud e-payment solution for corporate customers, which is linked to the corporate’s enterprise resource planning

A SWIFT Development?SWIFT value-added services have been enticing many corporates to join SWIFT - the majority through SWIFT service bureaus. What is currently on offer and how is the landscape developing?Words: Anne Petrie


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Beames says: “I think that’s not fully understood within the market at the moment, but is something which SWIFT are pushing with the banks to implement and quite rightly so. Stage one [of the process] is having the right services in place in order to be able to participate within eBAM.”

However, he supports SWIFT’s pilot of a central eBAM utility, which is to see whether a business case exists for a central hub. “I think there is [a business case].” Despite his support for the hub, Beames has reservations. “My concern is that once again this seems to be coming from the bank rather than the corporate angle, so [SWIFT] is coming at it from the wrong direction again,” he notes.

However, he believes the project has moved in the right direction - even if formats aren’t standardised, the existence of a central database is useful. “You’re not making guesses each time you’re sending this information and having to set up things new each time,” he adds.

E-invoicing

E-invoicing as a value-added service is not as high on the agenda for SSBs, which are taking their lead from their business partners.

“I imagine e-invoicing might be something we would look at in the future, but we tend to listen to our corporate customers and other software houses we partner with,” Beames explains. “Until they start dabbling in that world, we won’t get involved in it.”

BankServ’s Johnson also regards e-invoicing as a future, rather than current, concern. “Although eBAM is getting traction with our corporate customers. E-invoicing is still a little way off, although SWIFT is evangelising about the opportunity for corporates,” he says.

Tackling E&I

Another potential SWIFT value-added service, E&I, is currently lower down the agenda for the industry. Johnson say he would classify E&I “quite differently”, in that it would be possible to support it through the SSB but that the responsibility for driving adoption lies with the banks. “I don’t think we’ll see take up with the corporates until then. At the moment it is about bank-to-bank,” he says.

For ECS Financial, its main focus is the E&I solution embedded in its payments application but the company is waiting for the marketplace requirements to become clearer before developing other value-added solutions.

“For eBAM and e-invoicing, I think we’re really waiting for some critical mass before we put some development power in there,” Kurian says. However, once more banks are eBAM-compliant, he says, putting the solution in place will be simple. “It will be easy for us to start offering eBAM because we can just embed it into our payments application.” E-invoicing, he says, will require a separate tool, depending on customer needs.

Conclusion

Although consistent eBAM adoption via SWIFT is still some distance in the future, with the help of SSBs, progress is being made. The same is true for e-invoicing and E&I, both of which currently require a higher level of customer demand for wider adoption.

A stronger and more widespread push by banks, as ever, is also key. Johnson notes that the “green light” that corporates have been waiting for is here - with the caveat that customers getting involved now would most likely get involved in a pilot programme. “If a corporate is working with an eBAM-enabled treasury workstation or even looking at acquiring a standalone system, then the industry is ready to support their initiative,” he says.

(ERP) system, converting the payment message to the correct format, if necessary.

Leblanc believes that, despite the fact that corporates are starting to ask for eBAM solutions, scale is still an important consideration. “To be successful with eBAM, you have to have hundreds of bank accounts,” he says. “SWIFT for the corporate world is quite new. The first corporates are building the business case to join SWIFT, and after that, eBAM could be implemented for those. This is particularly true for North America.”

The scale argument is borne out by BankServ’s customer base, which is all large corporates. Gareth Johnson, head of operations at BankServ, believes the interest in eBAM has driven SWIFT adoption to a substantial level. “If you go back a few years, there was a situation where there was interest [in eBAM] from corporate customers, and it was one of the reasons they would decide to use SWIFT, but they weren’t actually using eBAM,” he says.

BankServ currently has three customers piloting eBAM, one of which is long-established project and the other two are currently reviewing their internal bank account management processes. “They have selected

eBAM software, either as a standalone or as a treasury workstation module, and we’re working on those pilot activities with their bank partners. So these companies are very much [moving to SWIFT] from an eBAM point of view. The bureau is ready now - it is a question of integration.”

Thomas Kurian is chief operating officer (COO) at ECS Financial, a software firm providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) connectivity to SWIFT. From his perspective, the service bureau is just a connectivity choice for customers. “Some of our customers choose to use the SSB, some of them choose to have the whole thing hosted, even if they’re not a service bureau customer,” he explains.

“Some Alliance Lite customers are also on board - they choose not to have the physical hardware on site but instead use our applications.”

Standardising eBAM

One reason for the slow speed of eBAM standardisation is that the SWIFT community is trying to achieve both banking and corporate connectivity in parallel, rather than in succession. “My estimation on timing, is that we’re a good couple of years off it becoming a reality with the larger banks,”

says Dan Beames, customer relationship and business development director at Fides Treasury. “The smaller banks are going to struggle, because of the back office applications they have to set up - it’s a fairly major back office change, with little advantage for the bank other than keeping their clients happy.”

He notes that there is considerable interest among corporates because of the “hassle” of opening bank accounts, but they don’t want to implement something that they’re going to have to test with each individual bank. “I don’t think anyone’s ready to make the full leap yet, because of the lack of standardisation,” he adds.

Beames highlights the limitations of integrating eBAM solutions with the existing SWIFT protocols - corporates have to be a member of the Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE) in order to participate in the eBAM programme. Some SSBs, such as Fides, offer connectivity using either the corporate business identifier code (BIC) or its own BIC. With eBAM for SWIFT, messages can only be sent using the corporate’s BIC. This mean extra administrative cost and effort for corporates, on top of those required for participation in the eBAM initiative.


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Axletree Solutions

SWIFT Connectivity Solutions

SWIFT consulting services for direct connectivity solution SWIFT consulting services can be a potential solution to organisations that host the SWIFT infrastructure internally but are unable to dedicate staff with specialised SWIFT knowledge, resources or time. Axletree’s team of SWIFT certified professionals can design, implement, upgrade and provide ongoing maintenance for your SWIFT infrastructure.

SWIFT service bureau for indirect connectivity solution Our service bureau solution offers you an economical way to connect to the SWIFT network. Customers worldwide rely on the hosting and support services of the Axletree SWIFT Service Bureau to exchange their financial messages safely and reliably. Axletree’s team of SWIFT certified professionals can able to connect you to SWIFT within few weeks and also provide you with 24x7x365 global technical support.

Alliance LiteAxletree Solutions is a wholesaler for Alliance Lite, a direct connectivity option for organisations with a low message volume. Our Alliance Lite support package includes orientation, business assessment and yearlong technical support.

Axletree Marketplace of Value- added Solutions

Integration - format translationAxletree offers Alliance Integrator - a SWIFT Integration product to enhance STP in format translation. It integrates back office applications with SWIFT messaging solutions, manages the transformation to and from SWIFT messaging

formats, as well as the enrichment and reconciliation of acknowledgements.

Regulatory complianceRegulatory compliance solutions are tailored to meet the requirements of the US Patriot Act and Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). These solutions offer an automated way to filter and review customers’ transactions for sanctioned party violations and help detect suspicious activity. Axletree provides integrated OFAC, FinCen 314 A, anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions to customers who wish to manage their compliance risks associated with SWIFT transactions.

Cash and balance reportingCash visibility is critical for optimal liquidity and risk management. Cash Reporting allows the exchange of real-time information on cash held in accounts worldwide. SWIFT customers can benefit from near real-time intraday cash reporting in a fully automated way through standardized statement messages from their banks. Customers can also build Cash/Balance reporting dashboards based on the statements received from their banks through Axletree’s Cash/Balance reporting solution.

Exceptions and investigations (E&I)Axletree’s E&I solution is targeted at automating and streamlining the enquiry process related to payment initiations. By deploying our E&I solution you can lower costs, eliminate manual interventions and render better customer service through lower turnaround time.

Electronic bank account management (eBAM)Axletree hosts the eBAM solution to meet the needs of customers who would like to streamline bank account maintenance and signatory management to reduce costs, risks and

inefficiencies. By employing digital signatures you replace the traditional method of bank account communication through faxes and telexes.

International Bank Account Number (IBAN)Our IBAN solution is tailored to meet your need to reduce bank charge backs and improve STP. We host the IBAN solution and provide training, support and maintenance.

Core bankingBanks can now take advantage of a complete service offering of core banking integrated with SWIFT messaging through Axletree’s secure hosted model. The core banking solution is a web-based suite of integrated banking applications for payments, accounts, cash management, loans and deposits, trade services, and multibank trade services application for corporate treasury.

Axletree Solutions is one of the most trusted and specialised providers of SWIFT connectivity solutions to Fortune 1000 corporations and banks worldwide. Axletree Solutions is headquartered in North Brunswick, New Jersey, US and has offices and data centres in Pennsylvania, Uruguay and Nassau Bahamas and serves customers in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Bahamas and the Caribbean Islands.

As the first recipient of SWIFT’s highest accreditation for service bureaus - SWIFTReady Connectivity Best Practice in the US, we are considered the ‘best-in-class’ SWIFT connectivity provider with the expertise, state-of-the art infrastructure and top quality customer service.

In addition to being a SWIFT service bureau, Axletree Solutions is also a SWIFT partner, and accredited service provider, and offers the entire scope of services

related to SWIFT connectivity to banks, corporations and securities institutions.

Our turnkey connectivity solution to the SWIFT network has enabled customers to lower costs and improve efficiency through automation and real time information. Additionally, Axletree provides a marketplace of value-added solutions that caters to the multiple needs of our customers and enables straight-through processing (STP).

Axletree was built on the principle of ‘failure is not an option’ and our goal is to deliver complete peace of mind to our customers. Our SWIFT business processes, primary data and HOT disaster recovery (DR) centres are certified and compliant with the internationally recognised SAS 70 Type II and SWIFT audit certifcations, thereby assuring you 100% redundancy and ‘no single point of failure’.

Products and Services

ContaCt information

2 King Arthur CourtLakeside West, Suite A-1North Brunswick, NJ 08902 US

Email: [email protected]: +1 732 296 0001Website: www.axletrees.com


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BANKSERVAD

BankServ

BankServ’s integrated SWIFT service bureau solution suite provides all the applications and services required to create the most secure and reliable SWIFT connection, while saving your company upfront capital and ongoing operations costs in comparison to an in-house solution. Core BankServ products:• TurboSwift (SWIFT FIN processing).• TurboFileAct (SWIFT FileAct processing,

electronic bank account management (eBAM)). • MessagePro (format transformation, content-

based routing, destination routing, etc). Standard service offering:• SWIFT expertise and service.• 24/7 global customer and technical support.• Ongoing disaster recovery (DR).• Global compliance watch list and checking

(OFAC).• Professional project management and

implementation of TurboSwift and TurboFileAct.• Archiving.• Ongoing upgrades and maintenance.• Ongoing compliance per SAS70 Type II, US

banking authorities and SWIFT requirements.

SWIFT expertise and serviceOur experienced project management and implementation team has on average 10 years experience with SWIFT and global banking and treasury operations. We take our partnership with our clients seriously from day one of the implementation, as we guide clients in developing the most cost-effective solution and provide ongoing support for SWIFT updates, new corporate requirements and review of best practices.

Global customer and technical supportBankServ offers a global, 24/7 production support service. In the US and western Europe, we supply and support customers directly

through our San Francisco and London offices. In South America, Middle East, Asia and eastern Europe, customers are also serviced through a network of resellers.

TurboSwift - SWIFT-certified interface/TurboFileAct - Bulk File Transport and eBAMAt the heart of our service bureau are TurboSwift, a SWIFT-certified interface, used by over 350 companies internationally to connect with SWIFT’s FIN services, and TurboFileAct for SWIFT’s FileAct bulk transport service. Both include web- and client-based tools that enable anyone at a company’s site(s) to easily distribute, receive and manage messages. SWIFT-based standards, such as SWIFTNet 7 and RMA are already built-in, and TurboFileAct is set-up to work with upcoming eBAM requirements.

Treasury management system (TMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) integrationIn addition to being readily able to handle standard SWIFT messages through TurboSwift,

BankServ’s MessagePro technology can translate any non-standard messages or files into specialty formats required by a back office system or bank, thus enabling straight-through processing (STP) of all transactions with any back-office system, enhanced cash visibility, payment consolidation and overall better treasury management.

Founded in 1996, BankServ has emerged as a leading provider of innovative electronic payments and financial messaging solutions, and now works with more than 350 SWIFT clients in 52 countries around the globe.

BankServ provides a flexible SWIFT solution and service options to meet any corporation’s needs, whether they require basic SWIFT FIN connectivity, full service bureau support or an integrated solution suite that includes payment mapping, FileAct and other value-added services.

Clients choose BankServ because we are a best-of-breed provider. The SWIFT service bureau is our core business, as such, we closely partner with our clients as their SWIFT specialist, providing the experience and expertise they need to successfully implement a secure, reliable and cost-effective SWIFT connection.

Our service bureau service also offers global 24/7 support from both Europe and the US and is certified by SWIFT, audited by US banking authorities and SAS 70 Level II compliant.


ContaCt information

Global Banking Solutions Division333 Bush Street, 26th FloorSan Francisco, CA 94104US

Email: [email protected]: (415) 632-1869Website: www.bankserv.com

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The BankServ SWIFT Service BureauConnectivity, DR and professional support provided and maintained by BankServ


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BBP

SWIFT ServiceBureau BBP, through its own SSB, offers both national and international companies rapidly deployable and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions to connect to the SWIFT network.

Through the BBP SSB, you can take advantage of transmitting the entire range of SWIFT messages and services over the SWIFT network and other services and solutions, without the drawback of having to implement and support your own environment.

Comprehensive implementation servicesBBP supports the customer throughout the whole lifecycle of the implementation of SWIFTNet connectivity. The implementation starts with the requirement analysis and definition, followed by the SWIFT registration process.

A seamless integration into treasury, cash management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications (e. g. SAP, IT2, SunGard, Wallstreet System, ITS, Coprocess, SimCorp etc) ensures a high degree of automation.

Daily operations services BBP SWIFT ServiceBureau offers corporate customers an outsourced solution, which provides direct connection to SWIFTNet. The necessary infrastructure, where the applications are operated in the name of the client, is located in the same premises as the Swiss National Bank interbank clearing systems.

The recovery centre (active - active mode), the redundant system of the SSB, is located 27 metres underground at a different location. BBP is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the SSB (including the recovery centre and testing environment).

Value-added Services and SolutionsIn addition BBP offers value-added solutions and complementary services, such as:

Authorisation module: Large and international corporations in particular have additional needs for internal control and compliance (e.g. additional controls outside of the operational business units, which are responsible for the treasury and payment process initiation). BBP’s optional Authorisation Module supports these additional control processes and needs.

In this module, customers have the possibility to define which transaction type(s) (e.g. MT 101) can be sent to which bank(s) (BIC) and bank accounts. If such a transaction is not compliant to the defined rule, it will be filtered and requests an additional approval (four-eyes principle) outside of the operational business unit (e.g. from compliance or internal controlling etc).

Compliance and anti-money laundering (AML): Two modules enable customers to implement the requirements of embargo and money laundering legislation. Both compare the data to be checked with sanction lists such as Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), World-Check, Info4C, PEP Check and other country-specific lists. There are two modules available: the Transaction Filter Module checks transactions and requests; and the Name Matching Module checks customer information data.

Reconciliation solution: In terms of business processes, settlement and reconciliation directly follow the trade initiation and confirmation stages of the transaction chain. Once a trade has been confirmed, it must be settled. The settlement and reconciliation messages relate to one another and identify the main parties involved in sending and receiving the messages.

Long-term message archive: Provides a simple and efficient solution for complying with the requirements defined by article 957 et seq of the Swiss Code of Obligations (OR) and the Business Records Ordinance for the storage of business-critical data. Queries against the interbank archive are conveniently and efficiently processed online using the same GUI functionality, which is currently available for the monthly archive.

The archive application allows online message retrieval for 10 years and exclusively supports read-only access; the modification of data is not possible.

Data conversion, aggregation and mapping services: BBP’s Transformation Engine is a unique middleware application specifically designed for the financial messaging industry. The IGTplus Conversion Engine allows converting proprietary messages into SWIFT and other standard messages and vice versa.

BBP was founded in 1984 and is a fully owned subsidiary of New Jersey- headquartered Fundtech, one of the global leaders in the financial supply chain solutions market. BBP has its headquarters in Baden/Switzerland, with subsidiaries Datasphere in Geneva and Synergy in London/Nottingham.

Since its foundation BBP has specialised in the development and operation of financial messaging solutions. During these 25 years, BBP has acquired an excellent reputation as a dependable partner for banks, for financial institutions and, since the late 1990s, also for national and multinational corporates outside the financial industry, which are relying on BBP and its competence.

In 1994 BBP launched the world’s largest SWIFT service bureau (SSB). More than 200 banks, financial institutions and corporate customers in more than 30 countries trust BBP and its highly secure, reliable and highly available SSB

solution. BBP SSB is SAS 70 Type II certified and has achieved the highest SWIFT accreditation for service bureaus, being one of only a very few in the world: the SWIFTReady Connectivity Best Practice label. In addition, BBP is audited on a yearly basis in compliance with regulations of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (SFMSA) regarding outsourcing of business areas within banks. BBP is also a SAP service partner with special expertise in SAP and SWIFTNet integration.

In 2010 BBP was a founding member of FIRST ServiceBureau, an alliance of six service bureau data centres (two each in the US, the UK and Switzerland - offering cross-border resilience), forming the largest SWIFT service bureau in the world. Today, more than 300 corporations and financial institutions are served. FIRST ServiceBureau maintains the highest standards in quality, reliability, and security, with its services being marketed through a global partner network.


ContaCt information

Bahnhofstrasse 28CH-5401 Baden Switzerland

Email: [email protected]: +41 56 203 96 30Website: www.bbp.ch


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DATASPHEREAD

Datasphere

Datasphere is currently gaining momentum and experience in helping corporates enjoy the benefits of SWIFT connectivity.

Our corporate clients benefit from highly resilient connectivity systems, which are located in different data centres in Switzerland and the UK. This eliminates the complexity of building and operating a SWIFT connectivity environment for corporate customers.

Datasphere’s experienced operation team manages operational tasks. Datasphere’s service bureau offers you the full range of SWIFT services.

Datasphere assists you with the administrative tasks related to becoming a SWIFT member and getting access to the SWIFT network. Our customers always appreciate this expertise.

Once connected to Datasphere’s service bureau, a corporate will have access to the following:

• IGTplus SWIFT application: As a SWIFT certified CBT, it allows access to the SWIFT FIN service. All types of MT messages are available.

• IGTplus RMA application: This SWIFT certified RMA application allows setting up authorisation to send or receive MT messages with correspondents. In the near future, RMA will also be required for the exchange of files within FileAct.

• Support of SWIFT MX messages.

• FileAct: SWIFT Alliance Gateways, managed by the Datasphere’s service bureau, allows the exchange of files with correspondents through the secure SWIFT network.

• Compliance Filter module: This module, which can be coupled with other modules, can check files and messages against lists of criteria provided by reference institutions (OFAC, Worldcheck, PEP,…). Suspicious messages can be blocked before being sent. This highly configurable module helps to prevent money laundering.

• Converter: Where corporate applications cannot be delivered as SWIFT standard messages, the converter can translate a message from one format to another. The service bureau team manages this service, so no knowledge in operating this programme is required by the corporate.

• Workflow module with electronic signature (e-signature) and other modules, such as unpaid module and intraday module, and more dedicated services for corporates are also available via Datasphere ServiceBureau.

Datasphere’s team of consultants and specialists can customise the entire offering. Our specialists will also be glad to assist you in setting up complex business relations with partners.

Datasphere was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1983, and originally specialised in communication applications that enable banks to connect to the Swiss Interbank Clearing and to receive financial information from Telekurs. This established Datasphere as a leader in Switzerland in this area.

Later, Datasphere developed an application allowing banks to connect to the SWIFT network. Since 2004, Datasphere has been working closely with BBP, its parent company. This helped to extend the portfolio to include the service bureau operation - winning new banks and corporate customers.

Datasphere and BBP are part of Fundtech, a leading global provider of payment systems.

In recent years, Datasphere has more frequently provided its products and

services to customers in France. As a logical next step, this year Datasphere opened an office in Paris. In 2010 Datasphere was a founding member of FIRST ServiceBureau, an alliance of six service bureau data centres (two each in the US, the UK and Switzerland - offering cross-border resilience), forming the largest SWIFT service bureau in the world.

Today more than 300 corporations and financial institutions are served. FIRST ServiceBureau maintains the highest standards in quality, reliability, and security, with its services being marketed through a global partner network.


ContaCt information

Datasphere (SA)16 chemin des AulxCH-1228 GenevaSwitzerland

Email: [email protected]: +41 22 884 03 00Website: www.datasphere.ch

Datasphere (SAS)15 rue Taitbout75009 ParisFrance

E-mail: [email protected]: +33 173 028 976Website: www.datasphere-fss.fr

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EastNets

EastNets’ SWIFT service bureau offers corporates or financial institutions, either, on SWIFT or considering joining SWIFT, the ability to focus on their core business competencies, while outsourcing their SWIFT connectivity and infrastructure. With the en.Service Bureau, organisations can free up their internal resources, cut down costs and offload the risks and liabilities of maintaining and managing their own SWIFT infrastructure to EastNets’ SWIFT-certified service bureau.

Global Market Leadership and CoverageToday, en.Service Bureau hosts the SWIFT infrastructure and connectivity of more than 260 corporates and financial institutions worldwide and has over four geographically distributed service bureau locations. The en.Service Bureau is audited by SWIFT on a regular basis ensuring that its network and physical environments adheres to SWIFT guidelines and policies. Designed to maintain a high level of security and resiliency, en.Service Bureau maintains a live disaster recovery site for each of its prime site locations, ensuring that all services remain available and uninterrupted, at all times.

Value-added en.Service Bureau OfferingsCatering to the needs of small to large institutions, en.Service Bureau offers solutions and services that integrate seamlessly with SWIFT including:

• SWIFT Alliance Application Service (SAAS)Corporates can outsource their SWIFT connectivity and share access to EastNets’ messaging interface server application, SWIFT Alliance Access (SAA). SAAS customers will use the SWIFT web platform user interface to perform SWIFT messaging tasks.

• Fully-managed Hosting Solution (FMHS)Corporates can outsource their SWIFT connectivity and host their SWIFT messaging interface servers (SAA/SAE) on the en.Service Bureau. en.Service Bureau will be responsible for maintaining and managing the hosted messaging interface servers, while performing system health checks and upgrades.

• Gateway Connectivity Pack (GWCP)Corporates can outsource their SWIFT connectivity to en.Service Bureau, minimising the investment required for purchasing and maintaining the mandatory SWIFT connectivity components that are essential for establishing a prime connection to SWIFT. GWCP customers will retain their messaging interface servers (SAA/SAE) at their premises.

• Disaster Recovery Connectivity Pack (DRCP)The DRCP offering is tailored for customers that have a direct connection to SWIFT but are seeking a disaster recovery solution for better resiliency.

• Integration servicesWith this service, EastNets offers a cost effective way for automating your business transactions in an outsourced environment, supporting MT FIN messages, FileAct, and new ISO 20022 messaging (XML-based). Customers can now model, manage and integrate their payments, trade finance and securities business process flows with SWIFTNet standards on middleware technologies.

• Anti-money laundering (AML)Recognising the importance of meeting regulatory requirements and fighting money laundering activities, the AML module allows en.Service Bureau customers to stop suspicious transactions from taking place in real time. en.Service Bureau AML uses en.SafeWatch Filtering, a SWIFT-certified product, which has been installed in

over 350 banks worldwide and has been granted the ‘SWIFTAlliance Plug-in’ label for its seamless integration with the SWIFT environment.

• Corona Reconciliation, powered by SmartStreamWith partner SmartStream, en.Service Bureau users have the option of benefitting from Corona, a fully-managed online service designed to provide small to medium-sized firms with affordable and rapid access to its market-leading reconciliation solution.

• FIN and XML, traffic monitoring and reportingWith EastNets’ en.Reporting plug-in, SWIFT users can benefit from one central view to investigate, monitor and report all their FIN and XML traffic within one environment and receive alerts when events do not occur as planned.

• Duplicate detectionWith EastNets’ en.Duplicate Detection plug-in, SWIFT users can save significant time and money by preventing, in real time, duplicate transmission of payments or other FIN messages sent to correspondents. It also prevents duplicate instructions received from correspondents from being executed.

EastNets is a leading provider of global compliance and payment solutions and services with over 1,000 customers in 120 countries.

Founded in 1984, EastNets has over 25 years of experience serving financial institutions, corporates and government agencies around the globe. EastNets is headquartered in Dubai with 16 offices across continental Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Through its fully-managed SWIFT service bureau, EastNets provides SWIFTNet connectivity and add-on services for over 260 corporates and financial institutions.

In addition, EastNets provides anti-money laundering (AML), anti-fraud, payment and transaction management solutions, and SWIFT plug-ins to add

value to SWIFT connectivity for improved risk protection, transparency and cost controls.

What our customers are saying:“ Through the EastNets’ en.Service Bureau, we were able to be on the SWIFT network and do live-messaging in a matter of a few weeks.”

EastNets Service Bureau customer


ContaCt information

Roy Sudeepto Sales Director – North America,450 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1509 New York, NY US

Email: [email protected]: +1 212-631-0666 Website: www.eastnets.com

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Expertus

Managed by SWIFT experts, Expertus Service Bureau offers SWIFT connectivity as well as added value functionalities, including software-as-a-service (SaaS), payment initiation, E&Is, message filtering, regulatory reporting, message transformation and cash management. Our cloud approach also enables easy integration of our solutions to your enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other systems. Expertus’ Service Bureau offers a world-class data centre with the highest level of security, scalability and reliability.

Monetis Global Payment Solution (MGPS) is Expertus’ flagship product. It is a fully customisable suite of applications designed to meet the constant evolving business and regulatory requirements for domestic and international payments. Furthermore, it is designed to assist financial institutions and corporates to centralise and consolidate their global payment processes in a modular approach. A complete solution that can be deployed step-by-step, or module-by-module depending on your short-, mid- and long-term needs. MGPS is offered in SaaS as well as in-house deployment models.

Monetis Corporate Payment Platform (MCPP) is a fully customisable suite of applications designed by Expertus in order to meet the always evolving business and regulatory requirements. It integrates easily to any ERP or back office application, such as SAP and PeopleSoft, along with consolidating view of all banking accounts worldwide. In addition, MCPP allows the continuous processing of both real-time and batch transactions electronic funds transfers (EFT) on a single robust and secure platform. It provides banks with a consistent, reliable and re-useable platform to deliver services to its customers across multiple channels, whether processing single high value fund transfers

or bulk payments. MCPP currently supports all types of low/non urgent and high/urgent payments for both, international and domestic. Furthermore, the treasurers are able to easily track payments and investigations, as well as filtering against sanction list. Being a service-oriented flexible product built on Expertus’ framework, it can be deployed in-house or in the cloud (SaaS) through Expertus Service Bureau.

Expertus is a Montreal, Canada-based company with expertise in payments and payment solutions for corporate and financial institutions. In addition to being a long-established SWIFT regional partner in North America, the company has been accredited SWIFTReady services since 2002. From its very debut in 2001, Expertus has been a global leader in payment solutions and has provided financial institutions with targeted software solutions and consulting services that reduce operational costs and risks.

Expertus is a dynamic and growing company that is recognised for its flexibility, innovation, effectiveness and professionalism. It services the North American market with a cost-effective service bureau with its unique software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for low- and high-value payments, filtering against sanction lists, message transformation, exceptions and investigations (E&Is) and cash management.

Expertus is THE expert in payments.


ContaCt information

Charline Juneau2055 Peel Street, Suite 260Montreal (QC) Canada H3A 1V4

Email: [email protected] Tel: +1 514 842 7508 Website: www.expertus.ca


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Fides

The corporate service bureauAs every corporate is differently organised and structured, the requirements for the ideal cash management solution vary in the same way. At Fides, we aim to combine our extensive bank consultancy experience with the right components of our service portfolio to find the ideal solution to meet your requirements. If our existing portfolio should not exactly match your requirements, we have a team of specialised programmers and IT infrastructure specialists to develop customised reporting and payment solutions to meet your demands.

Turnkey multibanking solutionsFides is driven by the vision to connect corporates with all their banks globally in the one format, through the one channel, following the one security policy of their choice. This means that a corporate can send Fides all its instructions and receive all its statements in the format compatible with its TMS and ERP systems - Fides takes care of conversions to and from the bank formats. Fides consultants will also advise regarding which network best services the clients needs (SWIFT, EBICS, Banklink, host-to-host, etc), ensuring the most efficient and cost-effective channel is used.

Greater reach for true global multibankingFides extends the global reach of SWIFT for Corporates (SCORE) with its unique hybrid SWIFT service bureau model. Customers can connect with their main banks through their own corporate BIC, hosted at Fides, and to other non-SCORE banks via the transaction forwarding model of Fides. This benefits the client by offering faster rollouts, broader reach, simpler access to banks, and greater overall flexibility.

Ease of management of SWIFT for CorporatesFides holds a privileged position within the service bureau community by being able to provide

the SWIFT member concentrator model. By subscribing to this model, the corporate can benefit from integrated SWIFT invoicing and full outsourcing of BIC and service administration. As a member concentrator, Fides also assumes responsibility for the corporate’s SWIFT compliance.

Full-service outsourcing (value-added operations)With Fides, the clients not only outsource the provision of technical connectivity and maintenance to SWIFT and other networks, they also outsource the related banking operations such as:• Extensive validation and quality control services.• Repairing and/or enrichment services.• Extensive security features.• Regulatory and fraud risk filtering.• Bank relationship management.• Undertaking and rollout services.• Investigation services.• Integrated advisory.• Specialised programming for workflow

improvements.

Customised solutionsFides offers fully customisable solutions to ensure that clients meet their objective of 100% cash visibility, including email statement converters, bank proprietary solutions and a multitude of connectivity options to satisfy the security needs of the client. In addition, and also in conjunction, to providing solutions for TMS and ERP users Fides also provides its own middleware solutions to cater for the statement reporting and payments needs of smaller corporates or to integrate SOX compliant payment authorisation processes into the transaction flow.

Fides is the leading provider of corporate multibanking services to more than 320 corporate clients in North America, Europe and Asia. Fides has been dedicated to providing multibanking access to the corporate sector since 1985, connecting and servicing clients through SWIFT and other networks.

Our unique hybrid access and member concentrator model, combined with a broad range of conversion, validation and security services, provides the true one stop shop for global corporate multibanking.

Fides is a member of the Credit Suisse Group but operates an independent corporate service bureau, connecting the world’s market leading corporates to their global banking network and managing integration with the global providers of treasury management systems (TMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Fides has partnerships with Wall Street Systems, IT2 Treasury Solutions, e5 Solutions Group, OpusCapita, ecofinance and other leading software providers and consultancies.


ContaCt information

Email: [email protected]: +41 44 298 65 80Website: www.fides.com


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GXSAD

GXS

Eliminating Barriers in Global B2Bank Communication When it comes to the methods you use to exchange and process financial transactions with your banking partners, the SWIFT network is the recognised global standard. Corporate access to the SWIFT network enables your business to reduce the costs, time and resources required to interact with your banking partners. However, for many corporate treasurers, the investment required to link to and maintain a connection with the SWIFT network - both financial and administrative - can be costly, time-consuming and problematic.

The GXS SWIFT Service BureauGXS allows corporations to quickly, easily and cost-effectively gain access to the SWIFT network without taking on the administrative burdens or costs of managing its associated IT infrastructure. As the leading provider of global B2B integration services, GXS delivers a powerful combination of technology, people, and process to provide corporates with a single secure gateway to communicate financial messages, such as payment instructions, bank statements, foreign exchange (FX) transactions and securities holdings reports, with their worldwide banking partners. With the GXS SWIFT Service Bureau offering, your organisation can:

Simplify complexityGain a single access point to all of your banking partners and eliminate the need for multiple bank connections. Reduce the risks inherent in cross-border transactions as a result of differences in currency, technology, channels, culture and language.

Reduce costsUse the GXS SWIFT Service Bureau to connect with the SWIFT network, eliminating the need to invest in infrastructure, maintenance and personnel to support your SWIFT messaging needs.

Increase flexibilityUse multiple SWIFTNet message standards including FIN, InterAct and FileAct depending upon your specific needs. Moreover, GXS provides translation capabilities so your organisation can work with the formats, protocols and standards you prefer, while still accessing the value of your SWIFT connection.

Augment security and reliabilityConfidently link with your banks using the same stringent security levels that banks rely on to communicate with each other. Moreover, you’ll have one standard, secure method to connect with multiple banking partners.

Enhance payments visibilityComplete domestic and international financial transactions faster and more accurately by consolidating payments and reporting information to ensure transaction messages are processed, verified and delivered accurately. Reduce errors and processing delays with little or no human intervention.

Expand your international reachAchieve secure access to any of the more than 9,000 SWIFT member banks across more than 200 countries via a trusted, reliable, global network partner. With a global presence in major financial centres around the world including the US, UK, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Japan, GXS helps you address concerns of doing business globally.

Increasing the Value of Your InvestmentGXS uses a well-documented, proven, implementation and testing methodology designed to help your organisation navigate the increasingly complex web of processes needed for business-to-bank connectivity. In addition to offering secure access to the SWIFT network, GXS offers the value-added services that have made us the leading B2B provider in the world:

Network protocol mediation— Choose from a wide variety of secure Internet protocols.

Message transformationAny-to-any transformation services convert messages to and from standard and proprietary application formats.

Data EnrichmentGXS offers aggregation and de-aggregation of data from multiple, disparate sources along with enriching and validating data.

Corporate client and bank on-boardingGXS can manage the end-to-end implementation process for your new service bureau with our proven seven-phase on-boarding methodology that includes connectivity, map development and end-to-end testing.

Non-SWIFT connectionsEstablish direct internet-based connections to financial institutions which do not support SWIFT Corporate Access or who prefer a direct connection.

GXS provides a wide array of products and services for corporate treasury management, including solutions that address SWIFT network connectivity, business-to-bank (B2Bank) integration, enterprise resource planning (ERP)/treasury management system (TMS) integration, payment visibility and invoice automation.

GXS corporate treasury solutions enable you to improve global cash visibility and to optimise working capital. GXS delivers solutions that augment and extend B2Bank connectivity and integration for corporate treasury organisations and financial services firms. GXS has been providing B2Bank solutions for more than 20 years and counts more than 75% of the Fortune 500 corporations as customers.

GXS is a leading integration services provider and operates the world’s largest integration cloud, GXS Trading Grid. Our software and services help more than 40,000 companies provide mapping and system integration, client and

bank on-boarding, file and message transmission, systems management and program support.

GXS Managed Services, our unique approach to improving business-to-business (B2B) integration operations, combines GXS Trading Grid with our process orchestration services and global team to manage a company’s multi-enterprise processes. Based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, GXS has direct operations in 20 countries, employing more than 2,000 professionals. To learn more, see http://www.gxs.com, read our blog at http://blogs.gxs.com, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gxs and join us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/ company/gxs.


ContaCt information

Mark Mixter9711 Washingtonian Blvd, Suite 700 Gaithersburg, MD 20878

Email: [email protected]: +1 630 517 8417Website: www.gxs.com/swift


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RBS

Here is what we can offer: Scale and securityMost SWIFT bureaus are local or national boutique operations - with commensurately small capitalisation and backup. At RBS, we give you the confidence that comes with all the resources - personnel, expertise and technology - of a global bank.

Less riskThe more proprietary interfaces with banks, the more processes, smart cards and passwords you will have in place. This increases your risk exposure and makes regulatory compliance more difficult. In contrast, a single SWIFT connection through RBS eliminates the need to maintain a plethora of processes.

The result: greater ease in understanding, documenting and managing connectivity.

Clear account positionsWith global account balances readily and automatically downloadable through our SWIFT bureau, you can secure a single view of your balances as RBS can aggregate the data and return it to you in the format of your choice. This file can then be imported directly in to your ERP or TMS.

This knowledge provides a clear understanding of where funds are and makes it simple to shift them to support internal cash management policies. The result: ease of managing local cash positions from a central location, which in turn helps in either reducing your borrowing requirements or maximising your investment potential.

Improved payment tracking and tracingSince RBS provides clients with a record of all outgoing messages, you can easily track your individual SWIFTNet FIN payments or bulk files.

This holds true for companies that have already established a shared service payment centre, as well as those that continue to manage payments locally. Consequently, you have access to your outbound cash flow information, enabling you to handle your account portfolio more easily and effectively.

An automated solution, custom-built for youFrom the start, we work together to create the SWIFT bureau solution that best meets your needs; we can even take inputs from your systems in your preferred message format and convert them to the banks’ requirements. This allows you to keep any system changes on the client side to an absolute minimum.

At the same time, you benefit from straight-through processing (STP) that reduces risk of payment processing delays. All SWIFT updates and maintenance are included in your service package ensuring you comply with the latest SWIFT rules and specifications. And as your needs evolve, your SWIFT bureau requirements can be enhanced in terms of additional volume or additional services.

Charges based on your precise requirementsYour annual service charge is calculated on the basis of the features provided and the flow of messages through your specially-crafted SWIFT solution. In addition to basic connectivity, this could include options such as reconciliation or sanction list checking packages or long-term archiving - all with technology support and updates.

Charges for statement reporting and payment processing from all of your global banking partners will be transparent, and enable you to select the most appropriate provider for your requirements.

A contract between the two of usYour RBS SWIFT bureau services will be spelled out in a contract exclusively with RBS. This single agreement covers both usage and seamless infrastructure implementation.

Peace of mind: an integral part of the RBS packageYour RBS bureau processes your data in a secure and reliable environment safeguarded by rigorous application of all SWIFT security standards. Full data recovery capabilities and a separate and secure disaster recovery site help make this a robust solution - as a result, all of your data is fully protected. In the event of a query the support for this service is all taken care of by RBS.

Your call With on-boarding to the RBS bureau possible in less than three months (depending on your needs) you are close to improving your efficiencies and working practices.

Global Transaction Services (GTS) is a division of The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) group. GTS ranks among the leading international providers of transaction banking services through its extensive product capabilities, geographical reach and customer franchise.

GTS delivers domestic and international payments, cash and liquidity management services, trade finance solutions and commercial cards to corporates, financial institutions and public sector clients. With membership of local clearings in 35 countries and partner bank agreements worldwide, GTS’ global network serves the group’s clients in their home markets and internationally, wherever their business takes them.

RBS: A Global Bank to Meet Your Global SWIFT NeedsWhen you are managing corporate cash and treasury demands across multiple accounts with multiple banking partners around the world, you want a SWIFT provider that understands your aims and objectives. One that will use the parameters you set to devise the unique solution that suits you best.

On top of that, you want an offering that is fully tried and tested - a flexible, automated service that allows you to link your enterprise resource planning (ERP) or treasury management system (TMS) to all of your banking partners.

You want the RBS SWIFT service bureau.

And you are not alone. Since we launched this offering, a mix of corporates, non-bank financial institutions and banks across the RBS network have benefited from taking the RBS solution.


ContaCt information

To learn more about the benefits that the RBS bureau can deliver your organisation please contact your relationship manager.

Email: [email protected] Website: www.rbs.co.uk/swiftservicebureau

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Simplex

Scale and securityThe Simplex Global Transaction Platform (GTP) provides a comprehensive range of services to banks, financial institutions, corporates and the securities industry.

Unlike other fragmented competitive offerings in the marketplace, the Simplex GTP provides a seamless integration of business solutions, bringing together transactional banking, multibank connectivity and full data integration and reconciliation. This consolidated view of data delivers essential market insight, allowing GTP users to optimise working capital and reduce risk.

Global reachSimplex’s award-winning solutions allow clients to take control of their liquidity management with a global multi-network solution. The wide reach of GTP delivers international transformation capabilities, such as cross-border single euro payments area (SEPA) Credit Transfer (SCT) and Direct Debit (SDD) functionality, whatever a client’s location, network or message format.

Processing costs are dramatically reduced through automated reconciliation and exception management. Risk mitigation and regulatory compliance are assured by means of quality data management, business activity monitoring and AML sanctions screening.

Unique benefitsThe Simplex GTP financial messaging integration model allows clients to manage cash balances, positions and transactions globally.

Extending far beyond SWIFT-only services, the Simplex GTP incorporates connectivity to a global network matrix, which includes SIC, SECOM, Fedwire, FIX and a raft of other proprietary channels.

The extensible ‘iPad’ deployment model of the Simplex platform allows for the smooth integration and harmonisation of different technology components - delivering a cohesive and comprehensive business solution to the GTP user.

This hosted platform architecture ensures full interoperability with legacy and proprietary data, delivering speed of deployment and increased efficiencies to the user without the expense of changing existing treasury or enterprise systems.

The Simplex GTP is a proven and trusted platform provider, relied upon by some of the world’s most demanding corporates and financial institutions.

From its position as a leading European consultancy for financial services technology and business process re-engineering, Simplex launched the first independent SWIFT service bureau in the UK. Building upon this, the company now provides a sophisticated global transaction processing platform based on best-of-breed solutions.

Simplex, a founding member of the TWIST corporate standards body, is a trusted global transaction platform provider and is the major white-label managed services payments provider to some of the largest global transaction banks.

Together with Swiss solutions partner Sterci, Simplex boasts a seamlessly integrated technology application suite with an installed base of over 250 banks, financial institutions and corporate customers in 20 countries with a global reach spanning four continents.

Simplex Liquidity Manager (SLM) is the most recent addition to the Global Transaction Platform (GTP) platform and delivers powerful cash management services to the corporate treasury. It allows the corporate to replace multiple proprietary and legacy bank systems with a single integrated solution, reducing operating costs and enabling a consolidated view of international multibank cash positions within a single window.


ContaCt information

Simplex London Headquarters SimplexBecket House36 Old JewryLondon EC2R 8DDUK

Email: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7776 6400Website: www.simplexgtp.com


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SynergyAd

Synergy

Why choose a SWIFT service bureau?Automation of payments and reconciliation processes bring substantial advantages to corporate treasury teams.

A rapidly increasing number of organisations are finding that outsourcing their SWIFT connectivity to Synergy provides all the benefits of SWIFTNet without the overheads and compromises inherent in a direct connection.

Outsourcing the hosting of your SWIFT connection to Synergy’s SWIFT service bureau will save you money without compromising security, resilience, investment protection or cost.

Why choose Synergy?Synergy’s SWIFT bureau service - designed forcorporates ensure that your treasury automation project meets business objectives now and in the future.

Synergy’s hosted service, where you access SWIFT through a complete SWIFT infrastructure that we maintain and operate in our fully resilient data centres, offers a secure, resilient and extremely cost-effective option.

Your management overhead and operational workload are substantially reduced. With the SWIFT environment bringing new obligations for routine and a mandatory requirement to maintain reliable connectivity for the duration of each business day, the hosted service will provide a more reliable service at a substantially reduced overall cost.

Value-added Bureau Services

ClaritySuiteIn addition, the Synergy Service Bureau does a lot more than provide infrastructure and connectivity.

With extensive experience in developing world-class SWIFT messaging solutions and integration, we help corporate treasurers to benefit from Synergy’s web-based SWIFT message management applications, collectively known as ClaritySuite.

We are able to offer an organisation everything required for managing SWIFTNet traffic. From message creation, routing, archiving to transformation.

ClaritySuite includes:

• MessageMaker for SWIFTNet message entry, repair, authorisation and release.

• ClarityInfo for SWIFT management information (MIS), reporting, archive and traffic analysis.

• ClaritySwitch for exceptions processing, message validation, routing and message transformation to ISO 15022 and ISO 20022 formats.

Synergy’s ClaritySuite is ideal in a bureau set up as users can access their application via a desktop browser as in the now-familiar application service provider (ASP) model.

As an ASP, the Synergy Service Bureau can provide a SWIFTNet message entry capability for FIN and MX messages, and a sophisticated management information system to deliver a non-proprietary message repository for message investigations, SWIFT traffic reconciliation, a comprehensive reporting module and message archiving.

An optional message transformation service enables proprietary back office data to be changed to SWIFTNet format and back again.

This minimises the costly impact of changes to legacy systems.

Cash reconciliationThe reconciliation module, delivered as part of the Synergy Service Bureau, automates end-of-day and intra-day cash reconciliations and helps corporate treasurers to run business critical processes with lower overheads, faster and with greater accuracy.

Anti-money laundering (AML)The Synergy Service Bureau is further enhanced by a comprehensive anti-money laundering (AML) solution. The AML solution automates the requirements of embargo and money laundering legislation. This enables corporate treasurers to eliminate manual transaction monitoring and the associated administrative cost.

Synergy Financial Systems, part of the BBP Group, is the UK’s leading SWIFT service bureau and financial messaging solutions provider. We have been operating within the SWIFT domain since 1992 and have gained an impressive customer base with an excellent track record for delivering quality services at highly competitive rates.

An accredited SWIFT service bureau and service partner, Synergy is expert at providing resilient and secure hosting services to financial institutions and corporate clients. Our hosting solutions combined with value-added services streamline multibank connectivity for corporate treasurers and improve their ability to maintain an accurate position of cash management and cash flow.

The BBP Group is the largest SWIFT service bureau in the world. The group is already a trusted partner for more than 300 financial institutions and corporations in 38 countries.

In 2010 Synergy was a founding member of FIRST ServiceBureau, an alliance of six service bureau data centres (two each in the US, the UK and Switzerland - offering cross-border resilience), forming the largest SWIFT service bureau in the world. FIRST ServiceBureau maintains the highest standards in quality, reliability, and security, with its services being marketed through a global partner network.


ContaCt information

Synergy HouseHighfields Science ParkScience Park,University BoulevardNottinghamNG7 2RFUK

Email: [email protected]: +44 115 967 7990Website: www.synergy-fs.com


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Tieto is the leading IT service company in northern Europe providing IT and product engineering services. Our highly specialised IT solutions and services, complemented by a strong technology platform, provide our local and global customers tangible business benefits.

We are a trusted transformation partner and close enough to understand the individual needs of each and every customer. With about 18,000 experts, we aim to become a leading service integrator creating the best service experience in IT.

Tieto has a long history in supporting business critical processes with cloud-based shared services. Our customers exchange close to 1 billion business-to-business (B2B) messages annually using our service, which makes us

one of the leading business integration service providers in Europe. We have, together with our customers, received several international awards for our work in electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) and business integration services.

Tieto is an active member of many European and global financial co-operation organisations playing a central role in the areas of trade and financial services standardisation and facilitation. We also invest in evaluating and researching the areas of banking standards and corporate connectivity, as well as other industry developments and their future impact on corporations.

Tieto

It is your service Your corporation is unique - the way it is organised, to what degree it is centralised, and how the processes and the IT infrastructure have been designed. All which will have an impact on your level of expectation from a SWIFT service bureau. At Tieto, we go the extra mile to understand your circumstances and how our services can be customised to meet your specific needs.

Multi-banking through a single gatewayTieto Payment Factory with the SWIFT Service Bureau covers all the operational bank connectivity needs for globally operating businesses - including payments, securities, trade finance and other bank messaging. The service can be flexibly integrated into any corporate business system and includes an interactive browser-based access for example to initiate urgent treasury payments.

Corporations with a financial shared service centre (SSC) or harmonised business systems can access the service through a single interface, while those with several business systems can be connected using parallel interfaces and multiple message formats. This allows corporations to further simplify their bank connectivity and gain additional benefits, such as improved visibility of all cash positions and improved automation. This leads to better cash and liquidity management, as well as easier regulatory compliance and simpler bank connectivity auditing.

Flexible solutionWhether you are looking for an on or off-premise integration solution, Tieto will be able to assist you. Depending on preference and IT policy customers can select from a variety of integration options for connecting to the service. The options range from standard connectivity (e.g. SAP integration package for SWIFT) to tailored integration provided by Tieto.

You can easily connect to the service without modifying your business systems. This is enabled by value-added services included in the solution such as message reformatting and data enrichment. The additional benefit is that these services allow flexible and controlled migration to new financial messaging standards such as ISO 20022 adopted by the single euro payments area (SEPA).

In addition to the integration capabilities provided within the Tieto Payment Factory service, Tieto will also be able to assist you with on-premise integration. Tieto is a long term partner of all major enterprise resource planning (ERP) and middleware providers, including SAP, Oracle and Microsoft ,and our expertise covers wide range services including consulting, system integration, application management and infrastructure management.

It grows with your business demandsAs your demands for automation, visibility and operational efficiencies extend beyond banking and payments, the service can further be extended to supply chain messaging. Our solutions cover the full financial value chain from order-to-cash and procurement-to-payment. Tieto solutions enable the exchange and archiving of e-invoices in a tax and legally compliant manner in 40 countries and our interconnection network links us with 50 other service providers. Therefore whoever and wherever your business partner is, we can connect them to your electronic business network.

Best in classTieto Payment Factory with SWIFT Service Bureau received in 2011 SWIFTReady Connectivity Best Practice label. The label is the highest form of certification awarded by SWIFT and an evidence of adherence to highest operational standards in terms of availability, security, access control and resiliency.


ContaCt information

Tieto, Value Networks,Aku Korhosen tie 2-6P.O. Box 38. FI-00440Helsinki, Finland

Contact: Markus Hautala, DirectorMobile: +358 40 182 4299Email: [email protected]: www.tieto.com/fvc


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ContaCt information

Email: [email protected]: +33 1 41 46 10 01 Website: www.exalog.com

exalogCreated in 1984, exalog is a cash management and electronic banking software provider. Specialising in web-based treasury applications, exalog has been a certified SWIFT service bureau since 2007.

exalog’s team supports more than 5,000 customers worldwide in Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish.

We provide technical assistance from Europe (Paris and Madrid), US (New York City) and Asia (Phnom Penh).

exalog also offers banks white-labelled applications dedicated to their own corporate customers.

exalog’s treasury management system (TMS), Allmybanks.net, features all the functions needed to manage a company’s cash flow at a worldwide level:

• Centralised transaction management.• Management of banking authority limits (with or without digital certificate).• Accounting reconciliation.• Debt and cash flow management.• Cash flow analysis and budgeting.

To offer complete single sign-on to its customers, exalog developed its own multi-bank connectivity platform. It connects to all banks worldwide in real time via all commonly used banking protocols: SWIFTNet (certified swift service bureau), EBICS, FTPs and PeSIT. Over 50 million account statements and 40 million transactions are processed yearly.

For SWIFTNet connectivity, exalog provides its customers with value-added services:

• Receipt and transfer of all domestic and international formats.• Data conversion: from in-house formats to SWIFT, XML or domestic formats.• Interface with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.• Delivery and non-delivery messages management (ACK/NACK).• Connectivity tests with banks.

Being a member concentrator, we offer two advantages to our clients. First, we assist them in the management of security officers. Then, we concentrate the invoices enabling our customers to benefit from mass market prices.

exalog is always at the forefront of new technologies, which has led to the implementation of the 3SKey SWIFT certificate in our applications. Thus, our customers can sign their bank orders with this digital certificate. This improves control within the company, as well as banking authority limits (electronic bank account management (e-BAM) messages).

Decillion GroupEstablished in 1995, Decillion Group is a systems integrator and solutions provider focused on providing both stand-alone and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to the financial industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

Decillion has been a SWIFT partner for several years and opened its first SWIFT service bureau in 2004. The company now operates two SWIFT service bureaus, branded as ‘GlobalReach’, with the first located in Singapore providing service for southeast Asia and the second in Australia providing service to Australia and the south Pacific. Both service bureaus act as disaster recovery sites for each other, which deliver and inherently provide intercontinental resilience.

GlobalReach allows you to connect to the SWIFT network and send and receive messages by outsourcing your infrastructure to Decillion Group. This provides peace of mind and alleviates the need to worry about complex implementation and ongoing maintenance.

All GlobalReach services are hosted in state-of-the-art facilities that offer exemplary security and resilience. All applications are managed and supported by qualified consultants and each application and device is duplicated, teamed or clustered to ensure our service is always available to the user.

Under the GlobalReach umbrella three messaging and two filtering/screening services are offered as follows:

• GlobalReach MAPS provides a fully outsourced solution including connectivity, gateway, security measures and messaging application, as per GlobalReach Access. The value-add differentiator for this service is the provision of tools for automated workflow management, as well the intermediary message

transformation processes allowing uninterrupted message flows between various back office systems and to/from a qualified SWIFT message transmitted via Decillion’s MAPS system.

• GlobalReach Gateway provides all the benefits of a service bureau, such as connectivity and security, but leaves the licensing, hosting and maintenance of the messaging application, such as Alliance Access or Entry, up to the customer.

• GlobalReach Access provides a fully outsourced solution, including connectivity, gateway, security measures and access to the Alliance Access messaging application.

• GlobalReach CA provides the capabilities of the leading automated corporate actions solution from XSP but in a hosted manner.

• GlobalReach Filter provides a quick and easy way to filter incoming and outgoing messages against selected watch lists and make the appropriate compliance decision.

• GlobalReach Scan provides a quick and easy way to screen against sanctions lists for politically exposed persons (PEP) and financially exposed persons (FEP) individuals and/or entities as well as tools for reporting.

ContaCt information

Email: [email protected]: +65 6508 8088Website: www.decilliongroup.com

ContaCt information

Bramah House65 - 71 Bermondsey Street,LondonSE1 3XFUK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7940 4200Website: www.bottomline.com

Allevo

Bottomline

Allevo is a private Romanian independent software vendor (ISV) and consultancy company focused on ensuring reliable exchange and processing of financial transactions. Allevo delivers innovative solutions for banks, microfinance, corporates and public institutions’ treasuries, service bureaus and SWIFT member concentrators (both generically called SBs).

Allevo solution for SBs, based on its qPayIntegrator suite, is conceived to empower them to provide a software-as-a-service’ (SaaS)-type of access to the hosted applications for financial transactions processing, process management, and business continuity planning and guided execution.The SB’s value proposition is an OPEX-based one-stop shop, offering their customers a competitive and rich service range from extending SWIFTNet connectivity and access to hosted transactions processing, to comprehensive financial operations out-tasking.

The targeted SB customers are commercial banks, corporations and microfinance institutions.

The service extended by the SBs provides to their commercial banking end-users, according to their line of business profile:• For business users: automation of the bank’s treasury intraday and end-of-

day liquidity management. Corporate customers can improve portfolio and working capital management, as well as have a better experience. The bank’s retail customers will also receive better service.

• For operations users: full range of funds transfer instruments, compliance with single euro payments area (SEPA) Credit Transfer (SCT) and Direct Debit (SDD) schemes and Target2 settlement, anti-money laundering (AML)

filtering, risk containment, such as nostro/vostro accounting reconciliation, and competitive alerts on customers or correspondents’ behavioural change based on standard deviation.

• For IT users: shift the focus to business data administration, rather than overloading them with complex platform administration and related asset management activities.

Corporations and microfinance can benefit from enhanced working capital control, portfolio management and business risk containment, by streamlining operations with their banks to provide centralised management through a single view of the financial operations, with interoperability based on the financial standards, and intraday and end-of-day cash reporting and forecasting.

Allevo provides a proof of concept (including demos and self-testing trials) of its financial transactions processing solution on the PAYaaS portal.

Allevo resilience solution for SBs, based on the FMA application, consistently covers the mirroring and monitoring of financial transactions, together with virtual business continuity planning, assisted execution (based on comprehensive set of procedures), rehearse and update capabilities. The initially delivered plan is based on rich banking practice experience and is BS 25999-2:2007 compliant. Allevo also delivers to SBs the Esfera-based process management, complementing the provided service to their customers with valuable tool to register and monitor their service level agreements (SLAs), keep track of assets and resources, or even to their own derived services to clients.

Bottomline Technologies, incorporating SMA Financial, is the recognised SWIFT regional partner for UK, Ireland and Channel Islands. The highly accredited team of SWIFT experts have combined their business and technical expertise with the established Bottomline success as a provider of payments solutions. This powerful combination ensures any organisation can take full advantage of the products and services offered which encompass the full range of SWIFT connectivity, SWIFT value-added services such as anti-money laundering (AML), SWIFT training with the complete range of payment-related products and services used by more than 9,000 institutions across the globe.

With a focus on driving business growth and improving customer experience by reducing costs and maximising straight-through processing (STP) for global payments, Bottomline has a proven track record of helping payment institutions to streamline multibank connectivity and improve visibility of multiple bank accounts, in this way enhancing liquidity management and minimising fraud and operational risk, through using SWIFT standards and its secure and resilient network.

Bottomline customer, Chris Berris, group treasurer, Hunting, said: “On a per transaction basis, we have demonstrated that we can cut the cost of processing domestic and international payments by approximately 20% and 25% respectively. We have seen a definite increase in STP thanks to the bureau and our systems integration project. We have shown that, once fully live, the payment cycle will have been shortened by as much as 30%. This improves efficiency and contributes to lower levels of operational risk. We have already identified a number of other business areas that could benefit from the introduction of SWIFT messaging.”


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ContaCt information

Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 1189 526996 Mobile: +44 7785574977Website: www.tasgroup.eu

TAS GroupTAS Group is the strategic partner for the business innovation of payments, cards and securities from trading to settlement. TAS Group offers technology solutions including applications, project implementation through consultancy and software services to develop and optimise customers’ procedures and systems. Listed in the Mercato Telematico Azionario (MTA) market since 2000, TAS Group, with 20 years of experience, creates value for a long-term relationship listening to customer needs and bringing innovative solutions.

TAS Group has been working with SWIFT since 2000 to help corporates and banks to manage and enhance the SWIFT network and its services providing certificated software applications, support and general consultancy.

TAS Group offers integrated and turnkey solutions through its SWIFT service bureau, a complete infrastructure for corporate and banking connectivity and messaging, providing a single access point to the SWIFT network and its services. It also offers a whole range of value-added services that can be activated at the customers request.

Certified Services at Reduced CostsOutsourcing SWIFT connectivity to TAS Service Bureau allows users to avail themselves of highly specialised resources, thus reducing both infrastructure and support costs.

TAS is an accredited SWIFT Ready service centre. TAS Service Bureau is managed on-time by certified experts - it does not involve any specific training or internal service costs for the customer.

TAS Service Bureau ensures maximum flexibility. Because of its integration with

the TAS Network Gateway, users can increase/decrease their traffic volumes, change/add network protocols and subscribe to value-added services. Regular disaster recovery (DR) activities will meet internal auditing requirements at no additional cost to customers.

TAS Service Bureau in brief:• Secure SWIFTNet access.• Three environments: test, live and DR.• Services: FIN, InterAct, FileAct, Browse.• Certified SWIFT experts.• HelpDesk.• Management of system resources. • Value-added services.

Benefits• Removes in-house set-up costs.• Reduces usage costs.• Provides contingency and DR capabilities, ensuring reliability and business

continuity.• Avoids costs of updates required by SWIFT and the financial community

(technological, legal or business).• Provides access to all SWIFT services.

SunGard AvantGardSunGard AvantGard is designated as a preferred global partner to SWIFT. As such, the two entities work in close co-ordination to develop solutions that can not only provide connectivity, but also to deliver value-added services to both the corporate and banking members of the SWIFT network.

In a broader view, SunGard’s AvantGard delivers liquidity management solutions for corporations, insurance companies and the public sector, including receivables, treasury and payments management.

As part of this solution set, AvantGard offers the EcoSystem Communication Service (Echos), a technology infrastructure with an embedded SWIFT service bureau, which links the participants of the corporate commercial ecosystem.

Today, AvantGard is servicing many multinational and domestic clients via their service bureau.

With SunGard’s AvantGard offering, organisations can gain a single point of connectivity along with a set of value-added services to help facilitate communications between corporations and banks, such as bank account statements, wire transfers, treasury payments, accounts payable (A/P) payment execution (including a variety of formats such as SWIFT, automated clearing house (ACH), cheque to ACH converted), and cheque printing via a global payments network contained within the service.

The service also manages deal confirmations and matching (ACCORD), electronic bank account management (eBAM), bank fee reporting (TWIST), and money market funds (MMFs) reporting.

AvantGard also offers corporations options when it comes to connecting to the SWIFT network - to connect through the SunGard Service Bureau as a standalone entity or to connect through the service bureau but leverage the member concentrator programme, whereby SunGard acts as the administrator of your SWIFT account.

The comprehensive solution offers integration, security and audit compliance, delivering the back-end infrastructure and interfaces necessary to participate in the SWIFT network. Using the Member Administered Closed User Group (MACUG) or Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE) membership, users are able to easily gain access to the SWIFT network via the AvantGard Echos with SWIFT embedded inside.

For corporations, the AvantGard Echos helps deliver lower total cost of ownership (TCO), increased transparency and ease of operations leveraging the SWIFT service bureau. It also provides banks with more streamlined access to their corporate clients helping banks provide them with faster delivery of value-added services. It operates directly with receivables, treasury and payments solutions allowing for the delivery of services around corporate to bank connectivity.

ContaCt information

Email: [email protected]: +1 800 825 2518 Website: www.sungard.com/avantgard

TrainingTrainingTreasury and Finance

Date Course Location07-09 September Strategic Cash & Treasury Management Mumbai, India

19 September Enhancing Treasury Performance Toronto, Canada

06-07 October Risk Management London, UK

09 October An Introduction to Treasury - A Day in the Life of a Treasury Department London, UK

20-21 October Corporate Finance London, UK

26-28 October Essentials of International Cash Management Brussels, Belgium

03-04 November Supply Chain Finance Frankfurt, Germany

14-15 November Enhancing Treasury Performance London, UK

22-24 November Strategic Cash & Treasury Management Hong Kong

23-25 November Bond Origination & New Issues London, UK

01 December Treasury and Working Capital Management London, UK

09 December An Introduction to Treasury - A Day in the Life of a Treasury Department London, UK

gtnews is proud to present its schedule of treasury training courses for 2011. We’ve listened carefully to what our readers have been asking for, and the result is a training programme that will enhance performance in corporate treasury teams of every size and the fi nancial services companies that work with them.

Our curriculum has expanded for 2011 to include new courses in working capital, risk management, trade fi nance and corporate fi nance and now features courses in Turkey, South Africa, India and Singapore.

While we’re expanding rapidly, we’ve been careful to keep the features that mark out gtnews training as the best available: groups are limited in size to encourage interaction between participants, all our tutors bring a wealth of real-world experience to the groups, and our course content is developed with the aid of the insight into real-world treasury that our 50,000-strong global network makes possible.

Contact UsIf you would like to attend any of our training courses, or would like to receive more details, then visit: www.gtnews.com/training.cfm, e-mail [email protected] or call Diana Henderson on +44 (0)20 7079 2808.

MORE COURSES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

Training courses_A4_june11.indd 1 6/30/11 4:04 PM


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BNP Paribas16, Boulevard des Italiens 75009 ParisFranceTel: +33 1 40 14 4546

Bottomline (SMA Financial)Bramah House 65-71 Bermondsey StreetLondon SE13XF UKTel: 44 20 7940 4200

Broadridge (Deutschland)Mainzer Landstraße 211 60326 Frankfurt GermanyTel: +49 69 2710030

Datasphere16 chemin des AulxCH-1228 GenevaSwitzerlandTel: +41 22 884 03 00

DecillionLevel 2, 54 Miller StreetNorth Sydney, NSW 2060AustraliaTel: +61 02 9929 0655

DiamisRiver Ouest80, quai Voltaire95877 Bezons Cedex FranceTel: +33 1 34 34 88 00

EastNets450 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1509New York, NYUSTel: +1 212 631 0666

ECS Financials50 Main Street Suite 1000 White Plains NY 10606USTel: +1 877 834 3797

exalog97, rue de Bellevue92100 Boulogne Billancourt FranceTel: +33 1 41 46 10 01

Expertus2055 Peel Street, Suite 260Montreal (QC) Canada H3A 1V4Tel: +1 514 842 7508

Fides Treasury ServicesBadenerstrasse 141CH-8036 ZurichSwitzerland Tel: +41 44 298 6580

Fundtech 42 New Broad StreetLondon EC2M 1SBUnited KingdomTel: +44 20 7588 1100

GXS9711 Washingtonian Blvd, Suite 700Gaithersburg, MD 20878Tel: +1.630.517.8417

IBM (Sterling Commerce)4600 Lakehurst Court PO Box 8000 Dublin, Ohio 43016-2000Tel: +1 614 793 7000

Jason Informatique165, Rue Alfred SauvyZ.I. d’en Tourre III11 400 CastelnaudaryFranceTel: +33 4 68 94 0032

Nile Information Technology & Dissemination 117 El-Thawra St, Heliopolis Cairo 11341 EgyptTel: +202 23995400

OekB Am Hof 4 and Strauchgasse 3 1011 WienAustria Tel: +43 1 53127 2110

Orange Business BelgiumLeopold SquareAvenue du Bourget 31130 Brussels, BelgiumTel: +32 2 643 9400

Per HolmgrenSwedenTel: +46 8 5454 0797

RBS ½ Devonshire Square London EC2M 4BAUKTel: +44 20 7672 5678

Simplex Becket House36 Old JewryLondon EC2R 8DDUKTel: +44 20 7776 6400

Sterci 33, rue des BainsCH 1205 GenevaSwitzerlandTel: +41 22 708 02 15

SunGard340 Madison AvenueFloors 6, 7 & 8New York, NY 10173USTel: +1 800 825 2518

Synergy HouseHighfields Science ParkScience Park, University BoulevardNottinghamNG7 2RFUKTel: +44 115 967 7990

Syntesys France17 rue du Quatre-Septembre75002 ParisFranceTel: +33 1 44 86 03 40

Syscom Information SystemsHoliday Building (3rd Floor) 30, Tejgaon I/A Dhaka-1208BangladeshTel: +880 2 9124917

TAS GroupVia Benedetto Croce 600142 RomeItalyTel: +39 06 7297141

TietoAku Korhosen tie 2-6P.O. Box 38, FI-00441 HELSINKI FinlandTel: +358 207 2010

Wall Street Systems160 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4BFUKTel: +44 20 3170 3000

Allevo23C, Calea Vitan, Floor 3031281 Bucharest 3RomaniaTel: +40 21 255 45 77

Allied Engineering Group Verdun - Rashid Karameh StrAssaf Centre - 8th floorBeirutLebanonPO Box 113-6005Tel: +96 1 1 791002

AnaSys Rautistrasse 128047 ZürichSwitzerlandTel: +41 444 96 9798

Atos Worldline Chaussée de Haecht 1442- B 1130 Brussels BelgiumTel: +32 2 727 7166

Avatar Partners 20422 Beach Boulevard, Ste 325Huntington Beach CA 92648USTel: +1 714 969 0573

Axletree Solutions2 King Arthur Court, Lakeside West, Suite A-1North Brunswick, NJ 08902USTel: +1 732 296 0001

BankServ 333 Bush Street, 26th FloorSan Francisco, CA 94104USTel: (415) 632 1869

Barclays1 Churchill PlaceLondon E14 5HPUKTel: +44 20 7116 1000

BBPBahnhofstrasse 28 CH-5401 BadenSwitzerland Tel: +41 56 203 96 30

Bellin Treasury Services Tullastr 1977955 EttenheimGermanyTel: +49 78224 4600

gtnews3rd floor, Northumberland House155-157 Great Portland Street,London, W1W 6QPTelephone: +44 (0)20 7436 4306

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