The system is being used by 25 of the bank's staff in Beijing, and will operate out of locations in Hong Kong and Singapore in the near future.

The formation of joint stock owned banks and the move towards global listing of the top four state-owned banks in China, including ABC, has resulted in these banks needing to update and modernise their operating infrastructure. ABC currently trades many structured products - snowballs, snowblades and TARNS – some are back-to-back trades with global banks. ABC, as one of the big four, was awarded a derivatives business licence by the regulatory authority. To manage the growing derivatives business in China, the bank needs an industrial strength trading and risk management system, with superior pricing and straight-through trade processing capabilities in complex structured products.

In addition to the complex instruments, Misys Summit FT also handles all trading and risk management of treasury and capital market instruments in foreign exchange, money market and bonds. For risk management, Summit aggregates market and credit risk exposure across business lines, portfolios and products, and provides sophisticated Value-at-Risk measures for users.

Mr. Peng Xiangdong, Deputy General Manager, International Department Agricultural Bank of China, says, "We chose Misys Summit FT over other trading systems because of its innovative approach to handling structured trades and its ability to offer a functionally rich solution for cross-asset trading. Before making our decision we undertook a three-month due diligence and proof of concept. We were particularly impressed with the Summit MUST module and its unique approach to building and processing structured trades. We are confident that this solution will meet our present and future needs, enabling us to trade more efficiently and strengthen risk control."

The implementation of Misys Summit FT will dramatically improve the bank's trading environment and help it manage positions and exposures better as volume and complexity increases," comments Alan Railton, General Manager, Treasury & Capital Markets, Misys Banking Systems. "In addition to meeting the bank's complex trading needs, part of the project has involved replacing an existing FX and MM treasury system and integrating with its legacy back office application. We have a growing team of expert consultants in the capital markets area in Asia and have recently grown our team in Beijing in response to the growth in new client signings. ABC signed with us earlier this calendar year and has gone live on time and to budget."