Cognotec announced that it has become a member of the TWIST (Treasury Workstation Integration Standards Team) multi-company working group.
As the market leader in delivering Foreign Exchange automation solutions, Cognotec is delighted to join the Twist initiative. “The widespread adoption of standards in foreign exchange trading will accelerate the rate at which new technology is embraced, benefiting the entire industry,” says Brian Maccaba, Cognotec Chairman. “The Twist initiative has real momentum, is driven primarily by market participants, and will have a pivotal role in ensuring true end-to-end straight through processing”
TWIST is a working group of 19 companies formed and led by the treasury operations department of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and is focused on creating standards to facilitate an efficient, controlled and open dealing marketplace for foreign exchange (FX) and other cash market instruments. TWIST is a coalition that brings together representatives from corporate treasury departments, large banks, leading providers of treasury workstation solutions and exchange trading platforms.
Tom Buschman, Treasury Centre Development Manager for Shell Treasury Centre and co-ordinator of the TWIST group, said, “We are delighted to have Cognotec joining the working group to contribute to the further rapid development of TWIST standards. This move reinforces TWIST’s drive towards designing workflows, message elements, protocols and controls which allow banks, corporations and funds to rapidly achieve both pre-trade and post-trade Straight Through Processing of their financial transactions.”
TWIST is working with the FpML FX Products Working Group to facilitate STP by effective integration of treasury systems with FX trading platforms. TWIST issued the first version of the treasury system interface standard in May of 2001 and the second version of an open standard interface in September of 2001. TWIST is also working with S.W.I.F.T., the international banking messaging and network co-operative, enabling it to extend its messaging from the banking environment to the buy-side. TWIST received the “Technological Development of the Year” Risk Award 2002 from Risk Magazine for its work in creating standards for straight-through processing (STP) for financial instruments.