Today, SWIFT announced that more than 1,000 corporations had joined Swift's corporate treasury user community. There has been a sharp rise in the number of corporations, such as electronics manufacturer Toshiba and information technology services firm NTT Data, in the Asia Pacific region joining the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, the group said Tuesday. In September, Swift announced plans to establish a new Asia Pacific corporate hub in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and hire more than 100 people as it continues to expand in the region.

Fundtech extends service bureau service

Fundtech, a market leader in global transaction banking solutions, today announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with NEC and its subsidiary Decillion Group, a Singapore-based SWIFT service bureau focused on the financial services industry. The agreement extends Fundtech's global service bureau capabilities with physical presence in the Asia-Pacific region, adding to its existing service bureau operations in North America, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Fundtech will now have the capability to offer financial institutions and corporations a single global relationship with local support and service.

Decillion Group, established in 1995, provides software solutions to the financial services industry on both an in-house and service bureau (Software as a Service) basis. With established local offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, Decillion operates the largest SWIFT service bureau in Asia Pacific with 130 clients from 22 countries. In July, the company's flagship product MAPS was awarded the SWIFTReady Payments 2012 label, and the SWIFTReady Financial EAI 2011 label last year.

Fundtech currently operates the world's largest SWIFT service bureau providing financial messaging to over 600 financial institutions and 75 corporations. The company has been awarded the SWIFTReady Connectivity Best Practice label, one of only 10 services bureaus to achieve this recognition.

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SWIFT connectivity is becoming an essential part of many corporate treasury department's operations, but corporate treasurers need to remember that other connectivity is needed, particularly to non- SWIFT FIs and internally.