SWIFT access will enable corporate user to gain increased visibility and control over cash management

LONDON, 14th September, 2009 - SMA Financial (http://www.sma.co.uk/), SWIFT Regional partner for UK, Eire, Channel Islands and the Nordics today announced that Hunting PLC, the international energy services provider, is implementing the SMA SWIFT Service Bureau for outsourced SWIFT connectivity.  The project involved close co-operation between SMA Financial, Barclays Commercial Bank and IT2 Treasury Solutions and will deliver greater automation and straight through processing (STP) enabling Hunting to gain increased visibility and control over its global cash management.

Hunting was aware of SWIFT but had concerns about the complexity of any implementation.  However, SMA's Service Bureau removes much of the technical overhead associated with connecting to SWIFT and offers a more cost effective solution to SWIFT connectivity. 

With the assistance of SMA and Barclays Commercial Bank, Hunting has joined SWIFT as a Corporate member via the Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE) which will provide access to most of their leading cash management banks.

Chris Berris, Assistant Group Treasurer, Hunting PLC said, "We wanted to explore how we could better use technology to add value to our treasury operations.  SMA were able to show us how other corporate treasury departments who banked with Barclays were connecting to SWIFT via their Bureau Service and integrating this seamlessly with the treasury management system from IT2 to improve cash and liquidity management."

IT2 has configured its Treasury Management solution so it can send and receive messages to the SMA bureau.  Kevin Grant, IT2's CEO, comments, ‘Hunting PLC's STP project is an excellent example of achieving the great prize of enterprise-wide cash visibility through teamwork with its selected partners.' 

Berris adds, "SMA's and Barclay's experience was vital in demonstrating the full potential benefits that corporate access to SWIFT could bring.  SMA, IT2 and Barclays have gone through the implementation process many times before and this is a key reason in the project running smoothly.  The individuals involved from each company clearly have an excellent working relationship and have collectively been very supportive."

Phase 1 of the project to establish SWIFT connectivity in the UK is on target.  Once that has been completed, Hunting will look at rolling it out to their overseas offices.

Berris concluded, "This project will give us greater control and enhanced visibility of our cash positions across global accounts.  Once we go live, we will be able to send and receive messages over SWIFT, enjoy more accurate and timely reporting, increase our efficiency and reduce costs.  There is a strong business case for other Corporates who want to streamline payments, improve treasury management and reduce operational risk to connect to SWIFT via a service bureau."

Simon Murby, Managing Director, SMA Financial said, "This project demonstrates how a corporate can gain the benefits of being connected to SWIFT by working with a specialist partner such as SMA.  Together with IT2 and Barclays we can deliver significant advances in cash and liquidity management by automating the process from initiating a payment instruction through to confirmation, settlement and reporting."