Tesco has moved to increase STP and boost risk management in its corporate treasury by introducing an innovative automatic confirmation matching process for Money Market funds trades.
The retailer has become the first corporate globally to utilise the expanded asset class functionality of Misys Confirmation Matching Service (CMS) from Misys, the global application software and services company.
Tesco Plc went live with Misys CMS in December 2007 as part of a recent major re-engineering programme in its corporate treasury, and immediately began matching their foreign exchange and time deposit trades. Tesco has already matched over 1,500 trades in Misys CMS in 2008.
Tesco also recently started trading money funds electronically through the TEX platform from 360T and Institutional Cash Distributors (ICD), and is now automatically confirming these through Misys CMS to enable full end to end automation. By integrating their trading platforms, treasury management system, and Misys CMS, the organisation hopes to realise significant benefits of true straight through processing (STP).
Adam Boukadida, Treasury Systems Manager at Tesco Plc comments: "Re-engineering our entire treasury process within Tesco was a major undertaking, and we view confirmation matching as an integral part of the end to end process and key in managing operational risk. Our previous confirmation matching system offered limited instrument coverage and did not fully integrate with our treasury management system. Misys CMS was able to demonstrate its broad asset class coverage, and full two-way integration with Quantum, our treasury management system. With foreign exchange and time deposits live from day one, we are now live on Misys CMS for money market funds, and we hope to extend the use of Misys CMS for Forward Rate Agreements (FRAs) in the very near future."
Misys CMS operates in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environment, which allows Misys customers to enjoy free, seamless upgrades to the latest version running on the Misys internet portal. Each new version of Misys CMS delivers a range of up-to-date solutions for the latest client needs. The breadth, depth and flexibility of Misys CMS functionality allow clients to customise the solution to meet their unique technology and operational requirements.
Neil Macro, Head of Sales, EMEA for Misys Global Managed Services adds: "In the current climate, more and more importance is being put on the confirmation process of non-vanilla products and OTC derivatives. The value of this solution to Tesco is that it provides a huge increase in STP for these instrument types and greatly reduces the operational risk associated."
Misys Treasury & Capital Markets has 18 years of experience and unrivalled software development expertise. It creates integrated, comprehensive solutions for financial institutions to manage their capital market activities across multiple asset classes.