Related News

ECAs throw support behind steel giant’s decarbonisation push

Swift says CBDC testing for trade payments showing positive results

Bank results show muted trade finance market

Crédit Agricole and Demica unveil SCF platform for Asia Pacific

IFC joins Taulia as supply chain finance funder

Here is the latest news from Sibos 2012 in Osaka.

Sibos highlights Rmb growth in trade

Banks and corporates attending Sibos in Osaka have pointed to the need for favourable regulations and payment systems compatible with the Rmb as the currency grows in global trade transactions.

An opinion poll carried out by Barclays at Sibos reveals that 87% of bank executives are open to holding the Chinese renmibi (Rmb) for trade or investment purposes, with over two thirds (68%) having already done business in Rmb. 59% of those surveyed believe Asia offers the greatest opportunities outside of their home market.

However, the majority of respondents were sceptical about when the Chinese currency would become fully convertible, and regulation remains the single biggest concern for 66% of banks.

Matt Tuck, global head of financial institutions at Barclays says: “The poll results confirm that banks continue to focus on the opportunities in Asia with the Rmb continuing to grow in importance. It is also no surprise that regulation remains the biggest challenge and a theme of significant debate and discussion here at Sibos.”

There will be five Rmb-related sessions at Sibos this year, and Swift has taken the opportunity to publish a white paper on the importance of having a payment infrastructure compatible with global payment systems in the context of growing Rmb internationalisation.

‘Rmb internationalisation: Perspectives on the future of Rmb clearing’ was created with contributions from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Citibank, HSBC, JP Morgan, RBS and Standard Chartered, and shows that the Rmb has advanced from number 35 in the ranking of world payment currencies in October 2010 to number 14 in August 2012.

Patrick de Courcy, head of markets and initiatives, Asia Pacific, Swift, says: “The existing arrangement for offshore Rmb clearing has served the industry well to-date. In the medium to long term, however, it is important that we have an enhanced platform that can address the need for longer operating hours to cover various time zones and lower the amount and cost of liquidity required to support these transactions. This white paper will be a practical point for dialogue related to the development of a future cross-border Rmb clearing system.

“There will, however, be some challenges for the industry related to the translation of international standards, reference data and the use of non-Latin characters.”

To produce the white paper, Swift collected business intelligence data from more than 10,000 financial institutions across 212 countries.

Calypso unveils Basel III liquidity tool

The treasury system provides intra-day, short-term and long-term liquidity management capabilities in addition to extensive cash management functionality, to allow institutions to address the upcoming Basel III liquidity requirements.

The Calypso solution helps to aggregate cashflows and data from multiple systems and business units. It can also model all asset classes (including cash and derivatives products) or integrate custom pricing models so that managers can perform market data perturbations or simulate behavioral assumptions into business-as-usual or stressed scenarios.

By using the new solution, treasurers will be able to manage enterprise concerns, such as survival horizon, asset liability distortion and intra-day liquidity usage, Calypso says in a statement.

Apart from producing the required metrics, namely liquidity coverage ratio, net stable funding ratio, credit line usage ratio, asset maturity mismatches and funding concentration, the Calypso platform will also allow treasurers to understand the key significant currencies by running balance sheets at a currency level.

Swift teams up with SmartStream

Swift is partnering with software provider SmartStream Technologies to evolve its confirmation matching engine, Accord.

Under the agreement, SmartStream will provide underlying components of the updated Accord platform, including elements of the firm’s Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solution suite, also launched at Sibos. SmartStream’s TLM T+0 (trade plus zero) provides a single view of transactions in real time, as opposed to the next day or three days later (T+3), across all currencies and accounts, while highlighting the current risk profile across all balances.

The improved Accord platform, currently used by 500 institutions worldwide, will support all commonly traded instruments, allow for the rapid addition of new asset classes, and provide value-added features such as an affirmation model and fax and e-mail processing, according to Swift.

“Given the ongoing market transformation, regulatory pressure and the increasing complexity of traded instruments, post-trade processing is once again at centre stage and a top priority of many operations executives,” says Javier Perez-Tasso, head of marketing, Swift.

SmartStream’s existing 1,500 clients who have deployed TLM across their back offices will now have the option to access Swift’s Accord rather than deploying TLM, or another matching solution on site.

Philippe Chambadal, CEO, SmartStream Technologies, says, “We’re excited to see our products leveraged in this way, creating an industry-owned confirmation service which will support clients and communities in need of a common matching platform as they seek to control the cost and risk of trading a broader array of products in increasing volumes.”

The new Accord platform will be launched in early 2014, with further releases to follow.

Swift also announced this week that its corporate treasury user community has surpassed 1,000 corporations, with a sharp rise in the number of Asia-Pacific corporates. Samsung SDI, NTT Data Corporation, Toshiba and Rakuten are four of the corporations that recently connected to Swift, and the organisation adds that Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region in terms of traffic.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is also among the corporates that recently joined the network.

Deutsche reveals liquidity app

Deutsche Bank has created a new liquidity technology app to offer its clients access to daily liquidity analysis, planning and management processes.

The new app is part of the bank’s Autobahn app market, Deutsche Bank’a first app-based electronic offering for clients in the financial services industry.

The app, which will be showcased at this year’s Sibos event in Osaka, will also improve the accuracy of local and worldwide forecasting, the transparency into branch account positions and centralises control of liquidity management through shared views and workflows.

Rhomaios Ram, global head of product management, global transaction banking, Deutsche Bank, says, “This new app will benefit clients by allowing them to take advantage of the associated increase in transparency and reduction of risk from one convenient location.”

OB10 launches fast payment tool

e-Invoicing network OB10 has launched a supply chain finance service to help organisations receive their invoice payments within three days.

Under the OB10 Express Payments service, once an invoice has been approved, suppliers can choose to receive guaranteed early payment direct to their bank within three working days. Suppliers can also agree to a discount in return for more immediate payment.

According to OB10, Express Payments will eliminate the costs of chasing unpaid invoices, while streamlining collections processes and strengthening relationships with customers.

The service will also support the agreement announced this week between UK prime minister David Cameron and large UK organisations to help their suppliers’ cash flow through supply chain finance.

Under this agreement, companies will notify their supplier’s bank once they have approved an invoice for payment, enabling them to access a 100% loan at lower interest rates.

A spokesperson at OB10 tells GTR that one buyer organisation has already signed up for the service, and other companies are set to sign up shortly, although they could not divulge the names of the companies in question other than they were “prominent UK companies”.

“From a supplier perspective, the beauty of it is that it’s entirely optional so companies can pick and choose when they want to take early payment. It could even become the way they take payment on all invoices to those buyers.

From the buyer’s perspective, it also helps them get a better return from their working capital as they can keep hold of their money until the payment date, but keep their suppliers happy with early payment,” the spokesperson says.