The banking software vendor Fundtech Ltd. is providing businesses with a direct connection to the SwiftNet international payment service.
The Jersey City company already operates a SwiftNet service bureau through its Swiss subsidiary, Biveroni Batschelet Partners AG of Baden. George Ravich, Fundtech's chief marketing officer, said Biveroni Batschelet is the largest service bureau of its type, connecting more than 100 financial companies worldwide to SwiftNet.
Fundtech announced Thursday that that businesses can now use Biveroni Batschelet to send payment messages to their banks. It said a few are already using it, including the reinsurer Swiss Re.
SwiftNet is run by the bank-owned Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, better know as Swift. Swift already permits corporate users to connect to SwiftNet through arrangements known as member administered closed user groups, or MA-CUGs, in which banks sponsor the businesses.
Typically, such arrangements require the corporate customer to establish a direct connection to the network, a process that Mr. Ravich said can be difficult and expensive. Fundtech's service-bureau offering "will eliminate a big barrier to entry," he said.
Edward W. Adams, a regional director for Swift in New York, said other companies already offer such service-bureau links to SwiftNet. They can be a cost-effective way to communicate directly with a bank, he said.
