• Bureau Service delivers a reduction in processing costs, increased efficiency and improved control

LONDON, 19th November, 2008 – SMA Financial (www.sma.co.uk), SWIFT Regional partner for UK, Eire and Channel Islands today announced that HiFX Plc, the UK’s premier provider of corporate foreign exchange and cash deposit services has achieved 99% straight through processing (STP) rates despite a 1,000% increase in its message volumes, thanks to the SMA fully accredited Bureau Service.

HiFX is now one of the world’s largest Corporate users of SWIFT, accounting for approximately 2% of the total Corporate SWIFT message traffic volume.  The company has built a long term relationship with SMA Financial and its Bureau Service for outsourced SWIFT connectivity.

“Our transactions volumes have doubled year on year and we now process over 2,000 messages per day, a 1,000% increase compared to when we joined SWIFT. 

SMA’s Bureau Service has been instrumental in supporting this growth and our STP rates have risen from 90% to 99%,” stated James Warner, Group Head of Operations, HiFX, “The Bureau Service has delivered a reduction in our processing costs, increased efficiency and improved control over payments. It has allowed us to offer improved service levels, e.g. later cut-off times to make same day value payments – a differentiator when operating in a highly competitive forex market.”

As margins have thinned in the foreign exchange market HiFX has strived to increase efficiency and continue to improve the level of service provided to customers. The SMA Bureau Service has played a key role in achieving this and gives HiFX a cost effective method of managing all of their SWIFT connectivity needs.

HiFX also implemented a new treasury system which links directly to the SMA Bureau Service to enable seamless STP.  SMA’s Bureau Service allows HiFX to send their payments from the treasury system to Barclays over a secure network and to receive detailed statement and confirmation reports by return. This allows for standardisation of messaging and increased credibility for HiFX with its own customers who want to ensure the confidentiality and security of their financial messaging.

HiFX has improved how it handles investigations.  Warner concluded, “By minimising the number of investigations, we are confident that we can process ever higher volumes without taking on additional resources.  The increased efficiency means that we can concentrate on our core business of meeting client needs with a highly personal service.”

Simon Murby, Managing Director, SMA Financial commented, “As an early adopter of SWIFT HiFX was one of the first Corporates to benefit from secure and resilient message processing that traditionally was only available to banks. We are very pleased to have played a key role in the evolution of their business and our ongoing mutually beneficial relationship provides the perfect example of how the Bureau model allows companies like HiFX to focus on their business while letting the industry experts look after their financial messaging needs.”

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 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 www.sma.co.uk

About HiFX
HiFX Plc is the UK’s premier provider of corporate foreign exchange and cash deposit services. Its proposition is both unique and compelling, offering bespoke brokerage and risk management services to over 2,500 Corporates, in more than 100 industry sectors. For more information please visit www.hifx.co.uk.

Press contact: Jenny Swift, Rivercalm: Tel : +44 207 152 6118 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.