Graham Evans, Head of Treasury, Nationwide said "The outcome of this phase of the project has enabled us more timely access to key information, improved processing rates and reduced stress within the team. We handle large volumes of funds every day and knowing where our money is at any given point in time and meeting all critical deadlines is not just desirable, it's essential to our business."



Nationwide instigated a review and assessment of their handling of data and information in order to improve their internal systems and meet growing demand in 2008/9. The goal was to further minimise risk across their transaction processing cycle which required maximum automation of the treasury systems in a secure, stable and reliable IT environment. The project concluded that access to the services offered by the SWIFT Network would enable them to meet their requirements and utilise the leading industry standard for payment messaging.



Following a review of suppliers in the market, Nationwide chose SMA Financial for three main reasons. Firstly, the company has an excellent client base. Secondly, as the SWIFT Regional Partner they were acknowledged experts in the field of financial messaging with a substantial number of SWIFT accredited consultants and thirdly, they offered value added services that were appealing to the treasury and its future plans.



According to Graham Evans, "we have not only improved control over our intra-day liquidity, we can better manage our debits/credits and produce statements quickly and with confidence that the data is reliable. The ability to meet the new FSA compliance requirements for liquidity management is a very positive step forward. With unexpected overdrafts down, errors down and a noticeable improvement in our department's efficiency due to the achievement of 99.98% STP rates, I am personally very pleased."



Nationwide is now moving forward with the next phase of the project which includes the automation of ion of confirmation matching.



Simon Murby, Managing Director, SMA Financial adds, "The project with Nationwide has been substantial in terms of meeting the demands of a treasury department with daily transactions averaging anything from 1 and 3 billion per day. They have a number of important relationships with banks and other financial institutions which required reliable and timely processing of payments which has been made possible using the proven SMA Service Bureau facility. Our team continues to work closely with Graham's team as we move towards the next phase of the project. "