SWIFT has launched the pilot programme of its new corporate access model, aiming to enable better standardisation and easier interaction with multiple banks.
Corporates have been able to use SWIFT to interact with their financial institutions since 1998, through the Member Administered Closed User Group (MA-CUG) and Treasury Counterparty (TRCO) models. Today, over 150 corporates are connected via SWIFT to more than 115 banks.
In June 2006 at the Annual General Meeting, SWIFT shareholders overwhelmingly approved by 98.6 percent the creation of a new corporate access model, complementing the MA-CUG & TRCO models. The new model, SCORE, Standardised Corporate Environment, enables corporates listed on a regulated stock exchange in a FATF (Financial Action Task Force) member country to join a single closed user group and interact with all participating financial institutions. It brings two major benefits to corporates and banks: easier administration and better standardisation.
Corporates leading the SCORE pilot programme include Alstom, Arcelor Mittal, CIBA, Danone, Gaz de France, General Electric and Microsoft together with the banks ABN Amro, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Nordea, Societe Generale and UBS.
The new model will be launched in January 2007. The focus of the pilot will initially be on cash management and treasury. Additional bank services such as exceptions and investigations, trade services and securities services are expected to follow.
“Corporates are a strategic priority for us,” says Johan Kestens, the Head of Marketing at SWIFT. “The SCORE model has been developed with the support of the SWIFT community and brings major benefits to corporates and financial institutions.”