IBM and Centric iServices are promoting an interactive approach to STP and payments tracking, dubbed closed loop information processing (Clip). The software is being customised to address specific business areas including securities, derivatives, nostro and payments.
Centric iServices has developed new technology that automatically checks transaction status when data is handed off from one system to the next and ensures that this information is passed along the data chain from receiver to originator. The UK-based vendor is working to incorporate the software into IBM databases.
The two vendors claim this real-time data sharing in a virtual database environment is a more efficient and lower cost method than traditional messaging. Because the information is held in an open database the customer could potentially integrate it into existing or new applications that may provide a consistent user interface to the information.
"This is a nut that the whole industry has been trying to crack," says June Felix, general manager of transaction banking solutions at IBM.
Centric iServices CEO Alan Macfarlane adds: "Not only will this automate some of the costly and time consuming elements of payments tracking, but it will also provide early warning of discrepancies, or even fraud detection, and thereby help to reduce the penalty costs currently incurred."