GEOS, the online system for the powerful, real-time Straight Through Processing (STP) of securities and derivatives transactions, has once again been awarded the SWIFTReady GOLD Securities Settlement Label for 2008.
SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication based in La Hulpe near Brussels, only awards its GOLD Label to software applications which satisfy a number of label criteria. The financial software has to meet certain criteria in terms of SWIFT messaging and functionality and should also be linked to the global SWIFT network. Specifically, SWIFT’s criteria for the Securities Settlement Label are:
MT540-543 Delivery/Receipt Instructions, MT544-547 Delivery/Receipt Confirmations, MT548 Settlement Status and Processing Advice, MT535 Statement of Holdings, MT536 Statement of Transactions, MT537 Statement of Pending Transactions and MT549 Request for Statement. SWIFT is responsible for verifying that these criteria are met.
In terms of technical features and specific functionality, the customer has to come first, which is why SWIFT – as a key part of the label analysis – carried out a customer satisfaction survey.
As a SWIFT Partner, Software Daten Service is delighted to have received the award again this year, given that very few software applications from among the 8,000 banks and financial institutions worldwide connected to SWIFTNet actually attain GOLD Label status.
"With GEOS, Software Daten Service is one of only three companies worldwide to have received the SWIFTReady Gold Securities Settlement Label in 2008," says Dr. Helmut Saueregger, ceo of Software Daten Service (SDS). "We are in the process of rolling out GEOS to other countries in West and East Europe and Asia in addition to its home markets Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Because GEOS fully meets international standards in this crucial area, both the software as well as those banks using GEOS have a competitive edge in the global financial industry. This award confirms GEOS’ position as a leading banking solution and is a clear sign that we are on the right track with our forward-thinking strategy."
The SWIFTReady Gold Label is a clear message to GEOS users that they are using a securities software solution whose messaging standards and business processes demonstrably comply with ISO standards.
SDS will continue to tackle the challenges of this exciting sector of the financial industry head on and support developments that are focused on eliminating the Giovannini Barriers. Corporate action functionality is currently being significantly expanded and all relevant SWIFT messages in the standard FIN format (ISO15022) are being integrated. Furthermore, the first fund processing messages will soon appear in XML format in line with ISO20022 and sent across the SWIFTNet messaging platform using GEOS.