Sibos, Dubai, 16 September 2013 – Swift, the financial messaging provider for more than 10,000 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 212 countries and territories, today announced at Sibos that Bank of America Merrill Lynch has joined its Early Adopter Programme for the Japan Securities Depository Centre (JASDEC), the country’s central securities depository.
JASDEC has been working closely with Swift to internationalise and standardise their messaging standards and connectivity by adopting ISO20022, as it strives to increase international competitiveness, strengthen interoperability and straight through processing, and enhance market functionality. From January 2014 to December 2018, all market participants must migrate their messaging standards from the existing message formats to ISO20022.
The Early Adopter Programme is a Swift initiative to help customers connect to JASDEC and to send ISO20022 messages via SwiftNet from the start of the community testing phase in July 2013.
Taro Fukushima, Managing Director, Head of Japan Global Markets Operations, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says: “By connecting to JASDEC via the existing SwiftNet, we can achieve cost efficiencies and it simplifies our global connectivity on a common platform, with proven resiliency and security, so that we can focus on growing our core securities business.”
Martin Vizjak, Director, JASDEC Initiative, Swift, says: “As Asia takes centre stage in the global economy, the need to adopt international standards like ISO20022 has become an imperative because it is the common standards platform for the financial industry. Asian market infrastructures have been at the forefront of this development, with Japan being one of the first countries to start moving its central securities depository to ISO20022.”
"Implementing ISO20022 over Swift brings cost efficiencies and time savings to the JASDEC community, as we are recognised as the global leader for ISO20022 with standards expertise, consulting and training services to support end-to-end transition,” adds Martin.
Tessa Teo, Global Account Director – Asia Pacific, Swift, comments: “As an early adopter, Bank of America Merrill Lynch will enjoy a period of free messaging and other benefits, such as product and service discounts, facilitating their ISO20022 migration and reducing the impact of this change. For JASDEC customers using SwiftNet, it is a great learning opportunity to gain valuable experience for other future ISO implementations.”
Swift has been in Asia Pacific for over 30 years, starting in Hong Kong and Singapore. Three regional offices have been opened in Asia since 2005, bringing the total to eight commercial and support offices, as well as an Operational Central Control Centre and a new corporate services hub that opened in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year.
About Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. We serve approximately 51 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,300 retail banking offices and approximately 16,350 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the marketing name for the global banking and global markets businesses of Bank of America Corporation. Lending, derivatives, and other commercial banking activities are performed globally by banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including Bank of America, N.A., member FDIC. Securities, strategic advisory, and other investment banking activities are performed globally by investment banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation (“Investment Banking Affiliates”), including, in the United States, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, which is a registered broker-dealer and a member of FINRA and SIPC, and, in other jurisdictions, locally registered entities. Investment products offered by Investment Banking Affiliates: Are Not FDIC Insured * May Lose Value * Are Not Bank Guaranteed.
For more information, please refer to our website www.bankofamerica.com or contact:
Marketing & Corporate Affairs Japan
Tel: +813 6225 7550
mariko.hayashibara@baml.com
tsukasa.noda@baml.com
james.seddon@baml.com
About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations in 212 countries and territories. Swift enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. Swift also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.
For more information, please refer to our website www.swift.com or contact:
Ernest Chan
Head of Media Relations, Asia Pacific, Swift
Tel: +852 2107 8873
ernest.chan@swift.com
Bite Global
Rosemary Merz
Tel: +852 2973 0222
rosemary.merz@biteglobal.com
