Corporate standards body Twist says Barclays has become the first UK financial services firm to use its bank services billing (BSB) standard to provide electronic reporting of bank information to corporate treasurers and wholesale clients.
Barclays is now using the Twist BSB 3.1 standard for the electronic transmission of information relating to bank charges to General Electric (GE).
GE receives Twist BSB-files from Barclays, enabling it to verify fees in a transparent, accurate and efficient way, says Twist.
"The BSB standard is designed to complement existing invoices, giving clients the benefit of electronic file transmission in a versatile format," adds Richard Martin, head of payments and cash management, Barclays. "Twist BSB will provide increased transparency in the reporting process and enable customers to analyse the volume and identify particular trends within their charges.
Paul Burstein, MD, treasury services strategic initiatives, GE Corporate Treasury, says: "With the BSB, we are now able to electronically process and analyse our bank statements. This will lead to more efficient usage of bank services."
Barclays will introduce the BSB standard to five other clients in this first phase of implementation, says Twist. However the service is currently only available for UK sterling accounts.
Twist produced the BSB standard last year, with Denmark's Danske Bank as the first European bank proponent.