Trema, the leading provider of treasury and asset management software for global corporations and financial institutions, today announced that the Banque de France is now live with Trema's central banking solution, replacing its legacy systems with a single platform to support its FX operations, reserve management, domestic portfolio management, as well its monetary policy operations.
The bank is the first of Trema's central banking customers to use the solution for both reserve management and monetary policy. The bank's use of Trema's latest Central Banking Accounting Module (CBAM II), also used by Central Bank of Finland (Suomen Pankki), means that it is also one of the first two central banks within the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) to fully bring itself in line with revised Eurosystem accounting standards drawn up by the Governing Council of the ECB. National Central Banks of the Eurosystem as well as the ECB have to comply with these revised standards from 1st January 2007 at the latest.
Until going live with Trema's solution, the bank used a combination of four systems across front, middle and back offices. In 2002, the bank launched the STORE project (System for the Treatment of Operations and Risk Management), which set out to identify and implement a single front, middle, back-office solution, plus accounting solution for its capital markets activities. Trema was selected from an initial list of six possible providers and the implementation project began towards the end of 2003.
Trema's solution now supports the Banque de France in a number of key areas: foreign reserve management and domestic portfolios; foreign exchange operations; monetary policy operations; transactions services; and ESCB interventions. By implementing a single system, Trema has heightened the bank's efficiency and reduced its operational risk. In addition to this, Trema has provided more advanced performance measurement capabilities for the bank's portfolio management activities.
Thierry de la Bretche, Head of Business Analysis for dealing room IT applications, Banque de France, comments: "Since going live with Trema's fully integrated solution, Banque de France has witnessed significant improvements in the efficiency of our operations. As one of the largest central banks in Europe and as an integral part of the ESCB, it was vital for us to find a solution that is robust and scalable enough for our needs. With its extensive functionality, Trema's solution has more than met our expectations."
Terry Beadle, Executive Vice President and Head of the Government sector, Trema, comments: "We have always felt extremely privileged to be working with such a high calibre central bank as the Banque de France, and this go-live is significant for Trema for a number of reasons. Firstly, with the European Central Bank, The European Investment Bank and Deutsche Bundesbank already using the Trema solution, it underlines our position as the de facto central banking provider in Europe. Beyond this, however, the fact that the Banque de France is one of the first two central banks to use our solution for accounting compliance and for monetary policy shows that Trema is committed to innovation and has a great deal to offer central banks in Europe and the rest of the world."