National Australia Bank (NAB) has chosen a solution from Misys to automate its trade processing across Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Misys TI Plus will assist the bank with improving service levels and extending new products to its clients. It will also help the bank to grow its Asia Pacific trade finance business.

NAB made a decision to move towards consolidation of its trade finance business onto a single platform globally back in 2012 and has been working across the region to make this a reality.

The bank initially implemented the Misys solution in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, India and Japan in December last year.

According to the bank, it has already increased transaction throughput across its Asian business by approximately 15% since then.

The solution is used in unison with Misys Trade Portal, the online solution, which NAB is currently implementing for its Australian customers to support their international trade finance programmes.

“The new back-end platform has enabled the bank to reduce documentary trade processing times for clients and deliver greater consistency of service across countries and time zones. NAB can now handle significantly increased trade transaction volumes across its Asian branches, providing the backbone for realising new business opportunities and trade service delivery in the region,” says Mark Borton, head of product management Asia, global transaction banking at NAB.

A spokesperson for the bank tells GTR that besides completing the existing projects, NAB will follow what is happening in the electronic trade space,” namely MT798, BPO, TSU, as well as the open account financing area, and believe that these are the most likely next areas for co-operation”.