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Partners share views on Exceptions and Investigations

Pilot underway for corporate-to-bank E&I

Published on 19 September 2008
Exceptions and Investigations has been a high-profile topic at this year’s Sibos. Interest is growing fast, particularly because of regulatory requirements such as SR7 and SEPA and the need for straight-through processing (STP) solutions for payment enquiries.

Many feel that exceptions is the next STP milestone because of the value it delivers in improved customer service and reduced operational costs. To date, over 50 financial institutions and corporates have signed up for SWIFT’s Exceptions and Investigations and 17 vendors are getting ready to roll out worldwide solutions. Five banks are already using the solution and providers expect over 60 customers to be live within two years. Many within the industry expect growth for the standard to be exponential over the next 12 months.

In the Special Interest Session on Thursday: ‘Sharing Experience: Implementing SWIFT’s solution for Exceptions and Investigations’, four application providers shared their experience in developing Exceptions and Investigations applications for banks and their corporate clients. Panellists were: Andy Elliott, practice leader, Pegasystems; Martin Leclerc, partner, Expertus; and Daniel Maurice-Vallerey, PowerPayments Technologies.

For Pegasystems, SWIFT Exceptions and Investigations is an integral part of their clients’ pursuit of a multi-channel, multi-product, global customer service backbone that combines the benefits of automation, cost reduction, accuracy and improved customer experience. Instead of an investigation taking days, customers can receive a response in seconds, which is one of the most important advantages Exceptions and Investigations offers over other traditional message types. Various innovative models are being explored from off-the-shelf solutions to the service bureau approach by Expertus Technologies.

Exceptions and Investigations for the corporate-to-bank space has also been in pilot since June 2008 through SCORE and MA-CUG, and will be in production from 27 September 2008.

What will drive bank-to-corporate adoption of Exceptions and Investigations? SunGard’s Day believes that as transaction volume expands, so will demand for Exceptions and Investigations. Maurice-Vallerey at PowerPayments adds: “There are so many benefits to corporates, they will start putting pressure on the banks to provide Exceptions and Investigations services.”