UK software house Gresham Computing says it is ramping up investment in sales and management of its real-time nostro (RTN) system after assuming responsibility for the service from Cable and Wireless (C&W) earlier this year.
C&W said in April that it was handing over primary responsibility for sales and management of the collaborative RTN system to software partner Gresham.
The UK vendor has since assumed responsibility for the system in return for a bigger slice of the revenues generated, although both parties continue to share net subscription revenues generated by the RTN.
The vendor has also taken steps to strengthen its sales and marketing resources, including the appointment of Dave Deller, the former managing director of Fundtech UK, in July.
"Whilst this represents a substantial investment we believe that such investment is justified to now engage strongly with customers and prospects," the company says in a statement.
The group says five major banks have now agreed to take the RTN Direct service, while several others are currently evaluating the service and in particular the SwiftNet delivery route. A total of 21 banks have now agreed to provide data, including seven of the top 20 banks in the world and all of the top four. Work has continued on integrating more of these provider banks into the service, increasing the number of currencies available and improving user subscription interest.
However the number of banks subscribing to the RTN browser service remains at four although there has been an increase in the number of currencies under subscription.
Looking ahead Gresham says the regulatory demands for real-time information have increased and, considering its existing pipeline, it expects further growth in CWRTN users and providers in the second half, building from Sibos and ongoing activity.
The news comes as Gresham reports a narrowing of pre-tax losses to £484,000 in the six months to June 30 2006, from £742,000 last year. Revenue in the period increased five per cent to £7m compared with £6.6m last year.