After the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, the Ministry is yet another government client in the Americas this year to adopt Trema's integrated straight-through-processing system to deliver greater automation and reduced operational risk.

The Ministry provides centralized liability management and project finance services to the government, its Crown corporations and agencies. It manages a CAD $41 billion debt portfolio and the annual borrowing requirements of CAD $3 - 6 billion on behalf of client entities. To do this, the Ministry has used a combination of mainframe systems, spreadsheets, and other ad hoc solutions. As the business has grown, the inflexibility of its existing systems and reliance on some manual processes has proved an inhibitor to future growth. In November 2003, the Ministry began looking for a system to automate accounting functionality and settlement processes with fiscal agents and clients, provide better front office trade capture tools, and deliver real-time market information for improved risk and valuation purposes.

Trema's solution will support a range of debt instruments including, but not limited to: fixed income, foreign currency bonds and derivatives. The system will interface with real-time market data feeds as well as a range of other systems including forecasting systems and other required banking connections. Expected benefits of the implementation include: tighter controls and a reduction of operational risk; real time reporting; and limit, risk and performance management and monitoring.

Bill Shortreed, Executive Director of the Debt Management Branch, the Ministry, comments: "It has taken us several years to find the right debt management solution for our needs. We were looking for a solution that could integrate our diverse systems, improve automation and reduce risk but, most importantly, we were looking for a solution that would deliver a firm foundation for future growth. Our expectation is that Trema's product will offer us the flexibility and scalability to move forward successfully."

Terry Beadle, Head of Trema's Government segment, comments: "The Province's selection of the Trema solution is proof of our continued commitment to debt management and central banking globally. It also demonstrates that we were serious when we promised continuous expansion in the Americas. With the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), another Crown entity, which has been live with Trema's solution for some time now, we already had an excellent reference client in Canada. We are extremely pleased to have begun work with the Province and see both of these clients as an excellent foundation for future growth in the region."