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Partners ...
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Requirements |
Solution |
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Fimat operates a busy trading desk in London. The bank required a solution to address several key areas:
Middleware platform for Application Integration and Transformation
Financial Reporting
Management Information System
Message investigations and archiving
Development of in-house applications based on ClaritySwitch architecture
The middleware requirement was to provide application integration (EAI) between Fimat’s front-office (FX & Money Market) systems and SWIFTAlliance.
These systems generated MT300s and MT320s and were manually input for dispatch to SWIFT. The bank wanted this process to be automated.
Financial Reporting was required to provide instant information on demand for the following areas:
NOSTRO Real-time balances on Nostro accounts
TREASURY Cash movements and real-time positions
FX & MM Confirmation Matching
Management Information System (MIS). The bank wanted Statistics, Traffic Reconciliation (e.g. duplicate message checking, gap reports etc.) and Billing.
The key requirement was to have full integration with Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat, so that data could be exported to Word, Excel or PDF.
Message Investigation and Archiving The bank needed a solution that would provide better historic archiving and message search capability than that support by SWIFTAlliance Access.
Application development Toolkit & API’s
Fimat needed a solution that would integrate as a central middleware hub for future messaging needs. Thereby providing in-house developed applications to utilise its messaging services through a Secure Application Framework, support via Java API’s.
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Synergy proposed its Web Server based middleware messaging platform, namely “ClaritySwitch”.
ClaritySwitch receives FX & MM deal tickets from Fimat’s front office applications and transforms these into SWIFT MT300 & MT320 messages using it’s XML based SWIFT message library.
These messages are then transmitted to SWIFTAlliance using Automated File Transfer (AFT) for onward transmission to SWIFT.
Financial reporting and MIS functionality is fully addressed using ClaritySwitch browser applications, namely “Financial reporting, Traffic and Billing”.
Another ClaritySwitch browser application “Message Investigator” provides easy and comprehensive retrieval and search capability on all SWIFT messages sent or received by SWIFTAlliance.
Information and data from messages held in the ClaritySwitch database repository are accessed via desktop browsers anywhere within the organisation.
This allows users to save outputs in PDF, Excel and Word formats.
Using the ClaritySwitch API framework, Fimat has written a number of in-house applications to address specific banking needs, for example Securities Reconciliations.
CONCLUSION
Every one of Fimat’s objectives has been met.
ClaritySwitch was installed three years ago and has significantly reduced operational costs.
It is working successfully as a strategic middleware system by enriching, transforming and managing messages between Fimat’s FX and Money Markets applications and SWIFTAlliance interface system.
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Calyon required a solution that would allow its Foreign Exchange Netting System (FXNET) to interface with SWIFTAlliance for the exchange of MT300, MT202, MT210 and MT950 messages.
A feed into FXNET for Calyon’s Singapore branch was also needed. The link had to be bi-directional and provide complete resilience and fail-over to a backup server at the remote DR site using database journaling.
On-demand and scheduled reporting was required and comprehensive analysis of payments.
Extensive message investigation and retrieval functionality
The secondary requirement was to broker messages to 7 European offices via a central messaging server in London connected to SWIFTAlliance.
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ClaritySwitch was installed on NT Server and it communicates with FXNET using message queueing software (IBM’s MQSeries).
ClaritySwitch also provides a message feed to the bank’s StorQM system in proprietary message structure, required by STorQM.
The system provides middleware capability as it handles SWIFT MT300 messages created by CL’s back-office, collects them from SWIFTAlliance and sends them on to the FXNET system.
ClaritySwitch takes MT202s and MT210s from FXNET and delivers them to Alliance and to CL’s back-office system for processing and reconciliation.
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All messages sent and received by MERVA are stored using the system’s own proprietary file structure.
LB required a system that would allow easy access to back-office systems to deliver comprehensive cash management information, billing by cost-centres and message investigations.
The solution was also required to ‘broker’ messages to provide global access to SWIFT data via desktop browsers from a central message repository.
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ClaritySwitch was installed as LB’s SWIFT ‘messaging hub’ or centralised data repository.
Communications links to the MERVA ESA system and back-office systems were installed.
Clarity’s “Financial Reporting”, “SWIFTBilling” and “Message Investigator” were installed to provide the front-end browser solutions for Management Information and Treasury support.
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Gaining access to this data had been difficult due to Fastwire’s proprietary file structure.
The bank required a central message repository for other applications to query and investigate messages on its trade deals and for users to access this data via their desktop browsers.
A key requirement was the provision of in-depth cost analyses on SWIFT messages that had either been generated automatically; or that had some manual intervention or created manually.
This would allow costs to be allocated accordingly and facilitate Straight Through Processing (STP).
DB required guaranteed and accurate delivery of information to comply with audit criteria and comprehensive message investigation and retrieval functionality
SWIFT message preparation and message storage and archiving functionality was also needed.
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ClaritySwitch was installed to interface with DB’s SWIFT interface system using Fastwire’s proprietary host link feeding the ClaritySwitch database to provide a central source of SWIFT information accessed by desktop browsers.
Some development work on Clarity Suite’s SWIFT Billing system was done to provide specific detailed information on DB’s SWIFT message operations.
Financial Reporting was installed to deliver scheduled reports and statistical information.
MessageMaker was commissioned to provide manual entry of SWIFT messages via desktop browsers.
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 Bank
Leumi needed a system that took SWIFT messages from its MINT
interface system, broker and deliver them to departments within the bank and
to reduce the accumulation of printed matter and thus preventing the manual
distribution of messages.
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ClaritySwitch provided the communication links and the message applications server with Financial Reporting for management information and “SWIFTFlo” for message flow control and email delivery.
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Synergy was invited to offer a message transformation solution to RBOS in Singapore. The bank was concerned about the impact of the new SWIFT message standards on its back office banking systems.
The concerns were based on the ST400 SWIFT interface system’s availability in the future with the SWIFT 2001 changes affecting the successful processing of messages generated by its back-office system.
RBOS required a solution that would upgrade the ST400 hardware at minimal risk and cost.
The proposed solution had to transform MT300 and MT320 messages from SWIFT 2000 to 2001 standards generated by its back-office system.
The bank required messages to be routed to the bank’s ST400 SWIFT Interface System in Singapore via TCP/IP PAI link.
The proposed system would then receive messages and ACKS from the ST400 and return them to the back-office system on the AS400 in the original format.
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Synergy proposed ClaritySwitch, It’s Web Server based messaging platform.
The multi-threaded architecture of ClaritySwitch facilitated the requirement to handle high volumes of message traffic and throughput at peak intervals.
A total of 3 real-time IP links were implemented to the ST400, simultaneously handling the bursts in messaging traffic.
The RBOS solution is based on a high performance Compaq Server (multiple CPU’s, 1.5Gb Ram, Raid 5 etc) running under Windows NT.
ClaritySwitch 3-tier web components used:
Http Server: Apache J2EE Server: Apache Tomcat
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