French bank unit signs with Swift and Davidge.

Societe Generale Securities Corp. has announced that it will be routing customer orders electronically through an agreement with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and Davidge Data Systems Corp.

Customer orders from around the globe will be routed through the bank's Swift connection, which will be connected to Davidge's Davnet trade order network.

The network will allow the bank to route the transactions to more than 40 destinations in the United States.

Societe's first vice president, Dennis Kasun, said the securities firm decided to go with the network because it has clients in Europe and Asia who require more immediate and systematized access to U.S. trading than possible through conventional telephone and fax communications.

"Using the Swift/Davnet link is a natural fit for us and our subsidiaries around the world," he said. "It will allow us to provide access to every major execution destination in the U.S. through a single network."

Mr. Kasun said Societe believes that the use of the network will enhance the service it provides to its client base and, consequently, improve its competitive position.

"The use of the network makes our offering more complete," he said.

The collaboration will facilitate the entire trade life cycle, from deal capture through to clearance, said Tony Kirby, Swift's director of securities marketing.

"Our collaboration with Davnet is representative of the type of initiative we seek to get aggressive at the automation level and evolve Swift services from a single to multinetwork connectivity," he said.

Societe Generale Securities Corp. is the securities brokerage unit of Paris-based Societe Generale. The banking company has assets of $260 billion, with more than 2,000 branches and 44,400 employees worldwide.

Societe Generale Securities Corp. provides correspondent services as well as securities lending, corporate lending, and derivative products to clients throughout the globe by providing access to over 30 international and U.S. markets.

Swift, which operates a global payments service for banks, has a network that spans more than 110 countries and guarantees the automated, secure, and reliable transmission of data using standardized messages.

Two Million Messages a Day

Swift is owned by a consortium of over 2,200 member banks and clears more than two million messages a day and approximately 455 million messages a year.

New York-based Davidge Data Systems Corp. provides software and network services for the securities industry for routing of trading orders and execution information.

Davidge systems execute about 6.9% of the New York Stock Exchange's daily transactions as well as executing transactions for the Over The Counter market, American Stock Exchange, and foreign exchanges.

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