On the Money Newsletter: Autumn 2006
BankServ to Join SWIFT as Corporate Member
In order to simplify the connection process for several of its domestic services, BankServ has announced its intention to join SWIFT as a corporate member in 2007. The company hopes to have its membership activated along with the first round of corporations using the new service plan in January of next year.
BankServ currently processes transactions through its SWIFT service bureau on behalf of a number of banks around the world, and will become the first accredited service bureau to join as a corporate member. None of BankServ's international clients, however, should experience any interruption in service, as the move will primarily affect the U.S. product line.
The main changes in store will be to the back-end interfaces of products like DepositNow and SameDayPay, where check images and ACH items will be transmitted to banks using the SWIFT FileAct system instead of custom-built direct connections. By using the SWIFT format as a standard, banks will experience considerably lower costs for connecting the services to their own systems.
It will also become possible for BankServ to use the SWIFT Network for the exchange of some of the more than 40 million ACH transactions it processes every year with its client banks.
Although corporate SWIFT membership has been available for several years, the companies joining in January will be the first to do so under a new program designed for easier access. Among the other firms joining in the group are IBM, Microsoft, General Electric and several others.