UK bank Northern Rock is implementing Wall Street Systems' technology under a managed service contract to support group treasury operations.
Northern Rock is installing a range of front, middle and back office modules from Wall Street Systems' treasury and capital markets package at its head office in North East England. Implementation commenced immediately after contract sign-off in February, with go-live planned for 2006.
The mortgage bank will use the technology to process transactions required for short and long term funding, including securitisation issues and covered bonds, securities investments and derivatives, and to comply with international accounting and reporting standards such as IAS 39. As part of the deal, Wall Street Systems will also be providing a managed service to help support the day-to-day technical activities required to run the system.
Steve Johnson, deputy treasurer at Northern Rock, says increasing regulation and an escalating range of instruments has led to a review of the bank's technology platforms.
"We chose Wall Street Systems due to its ability to provide a single platform that can support the increasing diversification of financial products, while at the same time delivering a robust operational solution that meets the requisite levels of control and transparency demanded by the regulators," says Johnson.