Cable & Wireless Announces Agreement with Fundtech to Deliver Real Time Nostro Data via SWIFTNet
LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2004--Cable & Wireless, the international telecommunications group, and Fundtech Inc., a leading provider of electronic payments, settlement and cash management solutions (NASDAQ: FNDT), today announced an agreement which will enable banks to send data to Cable & Wireless Real Time Nostro (C&W RTN) over their existing SWIFTNet infrastructure.
Today's announcement is another important development for banks that provide nostro account data into C&W RTN. The agreement will enable major currency providers to leverage their investment in the SWIFTNet IP infrastructure to feed data into the C&W RTN hub.
Fundtech operates the world's largest SWIFTNet service bureau located in Baden, Switzerland. The company currently serves over 100 financial institutions with SWIFTNet services, and is actively expanding its business through partnerships and agreements such as the one with Cable & Wireless.
Commenting on the agreement with Fundtech, Alister Hoad, programme director, financial services, Cable & Wireless, said, "We're delighted to announce this agreement with Fundtech as it marks another significant milestone in the development of Cable & Wireless Real Time Nostro. The collaboration creates a delivery mechanism for nostro data to C&W RTN over SWIFTNet, enabling banks to leverage their investment in SWIFTNet whilst allowing them to improve both services and product innovation to their clients."
Michael Sgroe, president and chief operating officer, Fundtech, added, "The relationship with Cable & Wireless enables us to leverage our investment and expertise in SWIFTNet processing into a new category of services. The value of real time information has never been more critical to the financial services industry, and we are very pleased to be working with C&W in this important industry initiative that will deliver significant benefits to banks and their customers worldwide."
About Cable & Wireless Real Time Nostro (www.cw.com/rtn)
Developed in close 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. This is in direct response to the banks' need 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.
About Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless is one of the world's leading international communications companies. It provides voice, data and IP (Internet Protocol) services to business and residential customers, as well as services to other telecoms carriers, mobile operators and providers of content, applications and internet services.
Cable & Wireless' principal operations are in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Japan, the Caribbean, Panama, the Middle East and Macau.
For more information about Cable & Wireless, go to www.cw.com.
About Fundtech
Fundtech (www.fundtech.com) is a leading provider of software solutions and services that facilitate payments, settlement and cash management by enabling businesses and their banks to electronically manage cash, process payments and transfer funds. The Company's products are designed to increase efficiency while enabling banks to better serve their corporate clients. Fundtech operates the world's largest SWIFTNet service bureau through its Swiss subsidiary bbp; and the company is the leading developer of CLS systems having been selected by 19 of the CLS Settlement Members Banks. Fundtech was established in 1993 and is a public company listed on the NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock exchange.
Forward Looking Statements:
Statements included in this Release may contain forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may relate, but are not limited, to projections of revenues, income or loss, capital expenditures, plans for growth and future operations, competition and regulation as well as assumptions relating to the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which cannot be predicted or quantified. When used in this Release, the words, "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "intends," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by or underlying the forward-looking statements. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed or identified from time to time in Fundtech's public filings, including it's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ending December 31, 2002 and including general economic and market conditions, changes in regulations and taxes and changes in competition in pricing environment. Undo reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which are applicable only as of the date hereof. Fundtech undertakes no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this Release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Note to editors
* Nostro accounts are typically foreign currency accounts maintained to facilitate clearing of funds for a correspondent bank in their non-domestic currencies, but can include currency of domicile and are used to process all types of payments, eg commercial payments, money market transactions, securities settlements, derivatives, trade payments.
Contacts
Cable & Wireless
Tara Salgado, Tel: +44 (0)1344 818 323
Email: tara.salgado@cw.com
or
Weber Shandwick (for Cable & Wireless)
Ian Pope, Tel: +44 (0)20 7067 0710
Email: ipope@webershandwick.com
or
Fundtech
George Ravich, Tel: +1 201 946 2277 (x324)
Email: georger@fundtech.com
or
Write Image (for Fundtech)
Adelaide Harrison, Tel: +44 (0)20 7959 5520
Email: Adelaide.Harrison@write-image.co.uk
[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]
