SWIFT Outsourced

by Graham Evans, Head of Treasury Operations, Nationwide

The primary role of Nationwide Building Society’s Treasury Division is to manage its liquidity portfolio, raise wholesale funding and manage interest rate risk positions as well as process payments, confirmations and settlements. We had been looking at joining SWIFT for a long time prior to finally going live in 2010, but it never made it to the top of our agenda. We had strong internal controls including over our third-party banking systems but as we are not a high volume payer, the numbers didn’t add up for us on a strict cost benefit analysis.

Nationwide is one of the world’s largest mutual financial institutions.

So what made the difference? Nationwide is one of the world’s largest mutual financial institutions. It is a household name in the UK but less well known overseas. With a balance sheet in excess of $300bn it is a major player in the UK retail financial markets. The balance sheet is predominantly denominated in sterling which has meant that Nationwide can keep its cash management simple.

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