Cable & Wireless Real Time Nostro Joins SWIFTNet

Cable & Wireless says that it has gone live with its own unique SWIFT operating code (SWIFT BEI code CWRTGB2L) for its Real Time Nostro (RTN) service. This granting of the BEI code means that banks will now be able

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Cable & Wireless says that it has gone live with its own unique SWIFT operating code (SWIFT BEI code CWRTGB2L) for its Real Time Nostro (RTN) service.

This granting of the BEI code means that banks will now be able to provide data into the RTN hub and users will be able to source their consolidated reports over SWIFTNet using a single SWIFT address. Lazaro Campos, head of the banking industry division at SWIFT, says that Cable & Wireless’s connectivity to SWIFTNet “offers banks the opportunity to further leverage their SWIFTNet investment by utilising the cash reporting industry-driven solution.”

Alister Hoad, programme director, financial services, Cable & Wireless, describes the approval from SWIFT for Cable & Wireless to be connected to SWIFTNet as an “important development in driving both cash reporting standards and utilising SWIFTNet as the preferred mechanism to deliver information into the RTN hub. Such a development underlines the industry momentum behind real-time cash reporting and the position it has as a key industry initiative.”

Arthur Cousins, director, strategy & product development at Standard Bank, South Africa, which has recently signed-up to the RTN service, says the knowledge that SWIFT had given Cable & Wireless its own operating code reinforced their decision to provide data to the RTN hub. “The benefits of using the service are quite clear and the ability to simply use a single SWIFT address and provide data, whilst utilising our investment in SWIFTNet IP infrastructure, provides both Standard Bank and its customers with positive benefits in risk and operations,” says Cousins.

Cable & Wireless Real Time Nostro (Cable & Wireless RTN) aims to offers institutions involved with foreign exchange and other international transactions a way of sharing multi-bank, multi-currency Nostro account data in real-time. It 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. 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 integration with the banks’ existing systems.

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