Financial network Swift is partnering with exhibition vendors at Sibos to conduct interactive cross-floor demonstrations of a new SwiftNet service for automating payments exceptions across the financial messaging network.
Six banks - ABN Amro, ANZ, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Commerzbank, KBC-Fin-Force and JPMorgan - are to participate in a six-month pilot of the new service, commencing in October. The tests are the culmination of a two-year study into the processes and costs of handling exceptions and investigations for bank-to-bank treasury and commercial payment instructions.
At the Bella Center in Copenhagen, delegates will be invited to witness the service in action, with payment inquiry messages passing between Swift and select vendor booths.
Both SunGard and Pegasystems have worked in consultation with banks and Swift in the development phase of the new automation tool and are participating in the cross-floor demo. Banks supporting the programme are expecting to reap substantial savings in staff costs as the tool has the potential to automate up to 60% of payments-related enquiries.
Thomas Halpin, SVP, USD clearing business executive at JPMorgan, says canvassing of correspondent clients has met with a positive response.
"The business case is obvious even if the figures differ from institution to institution," he says. "However it will require some more banks to take the lead at this early stage. We also need the strong support of Swift and of the vendor community.”
Swift has launched a third-party application vendor programme, and expects up to four ISVs to apply for labelling. Omicronn spin-off Trax is one of the first vendors to win the label and will also participate in the Sibos on-floor demos.
Elsewhere on the exhibition floor Sibos delegates will also be able to witness live interactive query and response messaging via SwiftNet with the exchange of real-time cash reporting information between Swift and reconciliation package suppliers.