Corporate to gain greater visibility over cash and benefit from reduced operational risk
LONDON, 20th April, 2010 – SMA Financial (
http://www.sma.co.uk/), SWIFT Regional partner for UK, Eire and the Channel Islands today announced that Johnson Matthey plc (LON: JMAT), the speciality chemicals company, is now live on SMA’s Service Bureau for outsourced SWIFT connectivity, and SMA Alembic for improved payment processing.
Johnson Matthey was seeking an effective method of managing its multiple banking relationships whilst reducing the complexity of operating different ebanking platforms. To achieve these aims the FTSE 100 company has joined SWIFT as a corporate member via the Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE). A combination of the SMA Service Bureau and SMA Alembic will improve automation of treasury processes, enhance visibility of cash and reduce operational costs.
Julian Tasker, Deputy Treasurer, Johnson Matthey plc explained, “We chose SMA’s SWIFT Service Bureau after a detailed market evaluation. It offers a secure and cost-effective alternative for outsourced SWIFT connectivity. The SMA Alembic solution enables us to meet our bespoke payments requirements and allow scalability beyond Group Treasury. The project will deliver greater automation within our payment processing and free up treasury resources to spend time on more value added activity. The added visibility that we gain will enable us to improve cash management and reduce operational risk.”
Johnson Matthey will send payment messages and receive statements through its treasury management system via the SMA Service Bureau over SWIFTNet FIN and use RSA one time authentication tokens for a secure connection to the Bureau. SMA Alembic’s powerful workflow capabilities will support Johnson Matthey’s complex payments initiation and authorisation requirements which include multi-level sign off under a three stage approval process. Initially the solution will be deployed in the treasury department but over time there are plans to roll it out to autonomous business units.
Neil Gray, Director Corporate Solutions for UK and Ireland at SWIFT added, “Johnson Matthey is the latest in a growing number of corporates to have recognised the advantages of using SWIFT as a secure, multi-bank communications channel for treasury and cash management. The ease of integration with established treasury management solutions coupled with cost effective SWIFT connectivity such as via a bureau ïs clearly helping to build a compelling business case.”
Kevin Grant, CEO, IT2 Treasury Solutions Ltd stated, “We are pleased to have worked with SMA on another successful SWIFT integration. Together we can help corporates improve treasury and cash management by eliminating manual processing and improving straight-through processing (STP).”
Simon Murby, Managing Director, SMA Financial concluded, “The SMA Service Bureau is established as the preferred option for corporates who need a viable option for outsourced SWIFT connectivity. This project highlights how corporates operating in a multi-bank environment can use SWIFT to achieve greater visibility over cash whilst improving payments efficiency.”
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About SMA Financial
Founded in 1995, SMA Financial has established its leadership as a source of specialist knowledge and expertise in the financial services industry providing SWIFT services, product and support. SMA Financial is the SWIFT Regional Partner for UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. It is the most extensively SWIFT accredited partner with over 300 successful implementations with banks, corporates and other financial institutions including more than 100 active SWIFT Service Bureau users. The company provides SWIFT Service Bureau, AML and SystemCare solutions as well as experienced consultancy services. For further information please visit
http://www.sma.co.uk/About Johnson Matthey
Johnson Matthey is a speciality chemicals company with operations in over 30 countries and employs around 8,500 people worldwide. The company is organised into three global divisions: Environmental Technologies; Precious Metal Products and Fine Chemicals. Its principal activities include the manufacture of autocatalysts, heavy duty diesel catalysts and pollution control systems, catalysts and components for fuel cells, catalysts and technologies for chemical processes, fine chemicals, chemical catalysts and active pharmaceutical ingredients and the marketing, refining and fabrication of precious metals. Johnson Matthey is a FTSE 100 ranked company with a total revenue of £7.8 billion and profit before tax, amortisation of acquired intangibles and restructuring charges of £267.9 million in the financial year to 31st March 2009. Its headquarters are in Royston, Hertfordshire and its City and registered office is located at 40-42 Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8EE.
About SWIFT
SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect over 8,500 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in more than 200 countries. SWIFT enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. SWIFT also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest. For more information, please refer to SWIFT’s website
http://www.swift.com/About IT2 Treasury Solutions Ltd. (
http://www.it2tms.com/)
IT2 Treasury Solutions is a leading provider of treasury management software to corporate treasuries and financial institutions. The IT2 TMS is a fully integrated best practice solution that supports treasury in its entirety, fulfilling cash, debt and investment, financial risk, treasury accounting and hedge accounting requirements. Founded in 1982, the company is located in New York, London and Hong Kong and serves over 220 customers worldwide, including Abbott Laboratories, A. Schulman, Chiquita Brands, Hyatt, Hysan Development Co., GSK plc, Marriott, Pirelli International, Tyco International, Volkswagen International Finance and Volvo Financial Services.
Press contact: Jenny Swift, Rivercalm: Tel : +44 207 152 6118 Email:
[email protected]
