Joining the party (TT Nov06 p30-31)

While treasurers have long used Swift messages, until recently banks jealously guarded access to the network itself. In the 18 months up to summer 2006 the number of corporates using Swift trebled, but it remained the preserve of the few as Member Accessed-Closed User Groups were seen as unwieldy. Swift-based access will widen but corporates are still getting mixed messages from the banking sector.