International Bytes

ABN AMRO Bank's Global Trade & Advisory group has been appointed to handle import letters of credit throughout Asia for Caja de Ahorros de Valencia, Castellon y Alicante (BANCAJA) and its subsidiary, Banco de Valencia.

The trade solution will utilize a Letters of Credit Re-Issuance model for financial institutions, whereby ABN AMRO Bank will re-issue all letters of credit in its own name, on behalf of BANCAJA Group, through its Hong Kong operations.

The partnership is the culmination of a genuine global partnership approach that leverages ABN AMRO Bank's extensive international network and innovative trade-related technology. Both BANCAJA Group and ABN AMRO Bank consider the Hong Kong Re-Issuance Program as the first phase in the development of a trade relationship that will expand beyond Asia.

"This Hong Kong Re-Issuance Program signed with ABN AMRO is a step forward in the collaboration projects BANCAJA has already initiated with key entities in Europe and America," said Roberto Franci, head of International Relations, BANCAJA. "We are the first Spanish savings bank authorized to operate in the United States, with the opening of a branch in Miami. We are very active in the middle market in supporting our clients for domestic and international purposes, and look forward to this partnership with ABN AMRO to leverage our international presence."

"Financial Institutions constitute ABN AMRO's single most important client group and the Spanish financial institutions are a significant contributor to our business overall," said Samuel Zavatti, global head of Financial Institutions and Public Sector (FIPS) clients, ABN AMRO. "We are delighted to be working with BANCAJA, one of Iberia's most dynamic savings banks, which shares our commitment to provide innovative client trade payment services. We are pleased to have contributed to the expansion of ABN AMRO's relationship with BANCAJA."

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The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has launched Global PAYplus payment system from Fundtech, a Jersey City, N.J.-based provider of global electronic payments, settlement and cash management solutions, in New Zealand.

With ANZ now processing customer payments in New Zealand through the Global PAYplus system, the bank is well on its way to replacing a number of disparate payment systems to create a common worldwide-payment platform. The platform will enable the bank to offer Web-based, real-time automated processing services across its international network. In 2001, ANZ Bank began using the Global PAYplus solution in Melbourne, Australia, the bank's largest office and headquarters.

"Fundtech's solution has been central to the increased efficiencies we've realized over the past year," said Terry Glover, executive manager of payments, ANZ Bank. "In a recent audit of our payments systems conducted by SWIFT, they found we had one of the highest STP rates in the entire region, which is a great improvement for us."

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Cape of Good Hope Bank, South Africa's oldest financial institution, has gone live with Trema's Finance KIT for its treasury and risk management departments.

Cape of Good Hope Bank has gone live with the complete front-to-back office functionality of Trema Finance KIT. The straight-through processing of transactions will streamline operations and improve risk management, releasing internal resources to focus more time on value-added activities. The wide instrument coverage of Trema Finance KIT has allowed Cape of Good Hope Bank to expand its clients' trading options to include money market, capital market and derivative instruments.

The use of Trema's pre-configured best practice solution for financial institutions facilitated the delivery of a rapid implementation. Furthermore, Trema Finance KIT's open architecture means the system was easily configured for the South Africa specific instruments the bank required, such as prime-linked NCDs and Rand Overnight Deposit Swaps.

"Trema has a very strong regional presence in South Africa and a solid understanding of how our local markets work," said Andre Nortje, treasurer, Cape of Good Hope Bank. "We set out a tight schedule for this implementation and we are delighted that Trema delivered such a comprehensive set-up in so short a space of time. The project was under budget and ran smoothly from beginning to end. It was great having such an excellent project team on board."