Union Bank of California, N.A. announced today it is providing increased services to its commercial clients by expanding its existing relationship as a member of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) organization.
Established in 1973 in Brussels, SWIFT is an industry-owned organization that has currently grown to supply secure, standardized messaging services and interface software to over 8,100 financial institutions in 208 countries.
Recently, SWIFT developed services enabling corporate customers to take advantage of its standardized messaging by offering corporate products such as the Member Administered Closed User Group (MACUG) and the Standardized Corporate Environment (SCORE).
In the MACUG environment, Union Bank centerposts as the corporate member connection with other banks with SWIFT access. Payment information is then securely communicated over the SWIFTNet network through Union Bank.
Introduced earlier this year, SCORE is a new, more straightforward model allowing corporate customers easier access to all of their financial institutions with enhanced flexibility.
"In a market landscape with increasing pressure to reduce costs and operational risk while improving efficiency, this is a major milestone in enhancing our payments infrastructure," said Union Bank Senior Vice President Alok Ahuja.
"This raises the bar in the area of business continuity and resiliency for the bank's payment systems," Ahuja said. "By leveraging direct access to SCORE, we can provide corporate customers with more flexibility and advanced, standardized data management tools."
These services provide improved straight through processing, improved controls, and enhanced visibility and access to cash globally and has been deployed by numerous Fortune 100 companies.