Union Bank of California said it had begun offering corporate clients a service to transmit wire transfer information to the bank in bulk files for automated processing.
The service, which Union Bank is marketing under the name Wire Import, ties in to its online cash management system and is designed for clients that send large volumes of wire transfers.
Betty A. Pluff, a vice president at the bank and its senior wire product manager, said in a recent interview, "We've taken what may be a whole day's process, if you're sending 400 or 500 wires, and reduced it to maybe a 15-minute process."
The service lets treasury employees at client corporations enter payments offline and submit them to the bank in bulk. It also lets clients map key data from their accounting systems into Union Bank's standard format for automated processing.
The service maintains existing security provisions and can also improve a company's financial control, Ms. Pluff said. "They're dealing with a trusted file from their system," she said.
Union Bank has been using the software for about two months, Ms. Pluff said. "We have a couple of pilot customers," she said. "They are feeling their way through."
