Source: City Networks
Nedbank, the South Africa based principal banking subsidiary of Nedbank Group Limited, today announced from Sibos 2005 the running of an integrated solution to deliver real-time nostro funding.
This initiative will realize the synergy existing between the Nostro Funding and Reconciliation functions on a real-time basis. The similar nature of the source information required by the proposed solutions as well as the interplay between them were key contributors to the business case to undertake the project.
With no previous funding system in place and reconciliations being processed via "Nostro Unix", the bank determined that a new approach was required. They identified a shortlist of technology solution providers and performed a due diligence exercise based on a detailed scoring mechanism with a range of selection criteria each having a weighting based on their importance to Nedbank's business drivers. All products were evaluated separately by the funding, reconciliation and IT teams and the ratings combined to obtain a final scoring. Prior to a pilot implementation, detailed technical and operational assessments of existing implementations of the short-listed solutions, included site visits, were performed in order to gain a complete appreciation of the potential benefits this new development could provide.
The bank's review led to the identification of City Networks' CityNet Reconciliation and Investigation solutions as providing the best possible basis to meeting the stringent criteria from a product, operational and functional perspective. Nedbank were pleased with the ability of both systems to achieve exceptionally high match rates and volume throughput, thereby delivering earnings improvement by reducing operational cost and losses. Nedbank also took into account the excellent reputation City Networks had established in the South African market.
Lizelle Vaughan, Programme Executive: Capital at Nedbank was delighted by the success of the project and the combined efforts of both organisations: "It was a great learning curve for Nedbank as well as City Networks to define and build the Funding solution, thereby expanding the existing product offering of City Networks. City Networks' commitment to South Africa and their products is commendable."
Jose Navarro, Regional Manager, South Africa, City Networks added: "The Funding project was an initiative that clearly demonstrated the synergy between Nedbank and City Networks when defining, developing and implementing new solutions. We worked very effectively with the Nedbank team to ensure the required time frames were achieved. The successful completion of this very challenging project is a testament to our very good relationship with Nedbank as well as our customer service ethos which is key to the development of our business in this region."