Target2 will bring more than a single platform for the real-time gross settlement systems in the EU, it will add enhanced euro liquidity management services for euro payments, reports Frances Maguire.

The demands of the European Commission’s vision for the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) have become more urgent and rigid, leaving little room for commercial forces but as Frances Maguire reports, legislation may be the only way to achieve full Economic and Monetary Union.

The growing use of collateralised debt obligations, and the speed at which new deals are coming to market, means custodian banks are allocating considerable resources to servicing this profitable seam of business.

The rise of the multinational company began in 1945, and just kept going. Frances Maguire looks at the impact the multinational has had on the globalisation of banking and on treasury and cash management systems over the decades.

Almost three years after the Global Straight Through Processing Association was binned, Swift is seeking to resurrect its vision. Will it be any better the second time around?

Traditionally, Swift’s involvement with non-financial institutions has been limited but now serious in-roads are being made to provide an easier way for corporates to benefit from the secure network.Frances Maguire reports.
Back in 1996, the board of Swift rejected the suggestion that corporates might use the bank-owned co-operative’s network to communicate with their banks, instead of the banks’ proprietary systems. Until relatively recently only a select number of multinational corporates were able to access Swift, and even then only to confirm foreign exchange transactions with their bank counterparties.

Three of the biggest regulations that banks need to comply with overlap. Frances Maguire argues for the common sense of building a single framework to deal with all three.

Charging more for a cross-border payment than a domestic payment in the eurozone is forbidden – but Europe is still awaiting the infrastructure to support euro cross-border payments, in the form of a pan-European automated clearing house.

Outsourcing offers the opportunity to pick and choose the best services and products from a provider that excels in that area. Frances Maguire looks at how this new model is changing the face of the financial services industry.
Global consolidation, enabling large banks to compete locally through acquisition, and the subsequent pressure upon local banks to compete at a global level, are the two main drivers for a new focus upon outsourcing and white-labelling in the financial sector.

As if migration to Swift’s new internet protocol platform, SwiftNet, was not challenging enough, banks now need to find out how to best use the new technology. Frances Maguire examines why the payments industry is beating the securities users to the new offerings.
From the beginning of this year, Swift began levying fines on banks that had not fully migrated from the old Swift X.25 network to SwiftNet in time. However, while SwiftNet gives banks a new roadway, migration is only half the story.