Cable & Wireless, the international telecommunications group, has formed Real Time Nostro (RTN) User Group.
The User Group, which will be chaired by Richard Pattinson, Senior Director of Settlement Strategy and Systemic Risk at Barclays, aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and the sharing of experiences of RTN to further develop the service and identify ways of using real time information to increase value across banks’ business and operational activities.
The RTN User Group will convene once every two months and consist of members involved in business and operational areas from within banks that have already signed agreements to provide or receive RTN data
“We regard this User Group as a significant step forward in the development of RTN and an opportunity for industry involvement in the development and enhancement of the RTN service,” says Alister Hoad, programme director, financial services, Cable & Wireless. “The Group will bring together leading industry players to discuss their own experiences of using RTN and enable them to potentially identify other areas across their business where they could extend RTN usage and realise further value.”
Richard Pattinson adds that “the establishment of this group is important in that it creates an interactive environment for key market players to exchange knowledge and their thoughts on RTN and the many different benefits that it can deliver. Only by engaging the industry in open dialogue can the real benefits of using RTN be achieved and the User Group will be a critical catalyst in taking the development of RTN further and realising greater value in the future.”
The primary focus of the User Group will be on account and transactional information associated with cash reporting. In addition, sub-groups will be appointed to focus on specific banking activities such as exception management, risk and credit control and cash management.
Developed in conjunction with the banking community, Cable & Wireless Real Time Nostro (Cable & Wireless RTN) offers institutions involved with foreign exchange and other international transactions a new way to share multi-bank, multi-currency ‘Nostro’ account data in real-time. The aim is to improve liquidity management, reduce risk, increase operational efficiencies and respond to customer demand.
Cable & Wireless RTN is a subscription-based information service, providing Nostro agents and account holders with a single view of their Nostro positions in each currency, across bank accounts, irrespective of time-zones and systems, to help them manage their cash flows intra-day, rather than after the market has closed.
Cable & Wireless RTN is a shared repository of information, hosted and managed centrally in Cable & Wireless’ hosting facilities and available over an internet browser, SWIFTNet or via an application programme interface. Software from Gresham Computing normalises and aggregates the data into industry-standard XML for ready integration with the banks’ existing systems.