TMI Awards 2010: J.P. Morgan Treasury Services

Co-operation and Competitive Advantage

“It is an honour to be presented with the TMI Award as the best bank globally for SWIFT for Corporates, and we would like to thank our clients for their votes, which validate the ongoing strategic investment we are making to ensure they can access our services through the most appropriate and convenient  channel.“
Brian Wedge, Client Access and SWIFT Product Manager for EMEA, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services

Connecting to multiple banking partners through a single bank-agnostic channel is becoming increasingly popular amongst corporate treasurers. J.P. Morgan has pioneered SWIFT connectivity solutions to meet this need as a complement to its proprietary web-based and host-to-host channels.

J.P. Morgan is particularly well-positioned to support corporates who wish to access their banks via SWIFT’s unique, worldwide network. J.P. Morgan has a successful track record in co-operating with SWIFT and acting as an early adopter of their products. For example, not only is J.P. Morgan one of the banks on the Corporate Access Group which guides SWIFT’s activities with corporates, but it is also very active in the wider SWIFT community; helping guide the development of new products, evolve standards, as well as participating in governance of the cooperative. As part of this role, J.P. Morgan has been proactive in promoting greater awareness of SWIFT solutions amongst the corporate community, and encouraging greater involvement of corporates in defining and prioritising new services through SWIFT.

A key factor in J.P. Morgan’s success this year is their highly consultative approach. Clients who opt for a SWIFT solution benefit from the expertise that J.P. Morgan has developed over many years in supporting its large base of financial institution customers who have used SWIFT since its inception. Furthermore, J.P. Morgan is able to leverage a worldwide network of technical specialists within its ranks of client service and implementation managers. The implementation process is scientific itself, and rightly so. Once a team is assigned, client onboarding is treated as a formal project, with clear objectives, timelines and assignment of tasks. This mitigates project risk significantly, and ensures that clients achieve their connectivity objectives to schedule and within budget. As part of this process, J.P. Morgan has been able to leverage its close relationship with SWIFT to obtain quick answers to queries and issues.

“Using SWIFT for bank connectivity brings considerable potential for corporates seeking to increase the efficiency of their financial processes, and J.P. Morgan continues to promote and prioritise new capabilities that deliver these benefits. With a variety of new initiatives launched recently, 2011 is set to be a year of growth and dynamism in corporate adoption of SWIFT. We are now in the pilot phase with eBAM (electronic bank account management) which enables accounts to be administered efficiently, and to manage signatories electronically. eBAM represents a major step forward for the SWIFT community as a corporate-led initiative which will also be leveraged by banks for the accounts they hold with other banks. We are also actively involved in 3SKey, the solution for personal electronic signatures, and other new initiatives such as completing trade transactions through SWIFT.” Brian Wedge, Client Access and SWIFT Product Manager for EMEA, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services

The opportunities for SWIFT Corporate Access extend beyond cash management into trade and bank account management. J.P. Morgan will continue to drive the industry forward to ensure that corporates have the broadest possible access to services through SWIFT as well as continuing to invest in its proprietary web-based and host-to-host communication channels.