eStatements is the latest enhancement to BofA Merrill's suite of offerings with SWIFT, which granted the firm Bank Readiness Certification last year and has subsequently certified approximately 40 BofA Merrill client-facing bankers in regions throughout the world.

BofA Merrill's eStatements eliminate the paper or CD-ROM distribution of monthly bank statements to clients. Instead, the statement images are delivered electronically through the SWIFT FileAct file transfer system. BofA Merrill developed eStatements in response to a request from GE, which wanted to streamline its handling and storing of statements from over 14,000 accounts with over 100 banks. GE's objectives were to reduce administrative burden, reduce compliance risk, reduce its carbon footprint and reduce its need to learn multiple bank electronic repository applications.

"Our development of eStatements was a collaborative effort with SWIFT and GE," said Cindy Murray, head of Global Treasury Product Infrastructure, Platforms and eCommerce for BofA Merrill. "This new offering will simplify and automate the handling of statements and provide a blueprint for future efficiencies in any treasury team."

eStatements is the latest example of the close working relationship between BofA Merrill and SWIFT, the member-owned cooperative through which financial institutions and corporations exchange standardized financial messages. The bank readiness and now individual employee certifications demonstrate to clients BofA Merrill's commitment to helping them with SWIFT services for corporates such as payments initiation, cash management, foreign exchange confirmations, account reporting, electronic bank account management, trade services and 3SKey.

"By working closely together, BofA Merrill and SWIFT were able to implement an innovative solution to help GE's treasury department achieve operational efficiencies and reduce compliance risk," said Elie Lasker, head of Corporate Market at SWIFT. "The eStatements project effectively eliminates the requirement to issue paper statements, and is therefore more reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly."