Netherlands-based custody and clearing specialist KAS Bank is to bring 120 customers onto SwiftNet as part of an upgrade of its proprietary platform for securities settlement and payment instructions.
The new KAS Bank customers on SwiftNet will be predominantly broker-dealers, investment managers and pension funds. To date, the firm's proprietary banking systems (KAS-Web and KAS-Select) have only been available via the Internet. Under the new KAS-Web application over SwiftNet, these systems will be merged.
Henk Brink, director mid-office and product development, KAS Bank, says Swift's record in security and reliability was a major consideration in the decision-making process: "SwiftNet's security features played a major role in convincing us that this was the ideal platform to meet our needs."
KAS Bank will offer SwiftNet access via a Member Administered Closed User Group (MA-CUG) utilising SwiftNet Browse for inquiries and InterAct for instructions. Later, SwiftNet FileAct will be incorporated to send bulk instructions.
The KAS-Web service via SwiftNet will be rolled out to 120 clients as of December 2004, with full roll-out to continue in 2005. In addition, 180 clients using Swift FIN today to submit instructions to KAS Bank will have the additional possibility of accessing the SwiftNet Browse service for inquiries.