Swift adds structure to unstructured data

Swift has launched an analytics service that provides users with a deeper analysis of their payments and letters of credit (LC) data over Swift. Watch Banking Analytics Premium is a part of the Watch for Banking services range, a set of online reporting and analytical tools that allow users to look into their institution’s message content to better understand the value behind messaging activity.

The new product will deliver access to additional payload information, including details of payment charges, which will enable users to benchmark to market practices. Visibility will be gained over the initial ordering and end beneficiary countries. Users also will be able to map their clearing business to determine potential new revenue flows.

Swift said the product would also provide users with a better understanding of FX conversion practices and greater visibility of the market for confirmed LC and the ability to track the share of dedicated activity. Users will gain insights into the length of individual LC and compare that to market standards. They can also rank market position by currency, country or market and track sales performance for comparison with their peers.

“The functionality of Swift’s Watch Banking Analytics Premium creates opportunities for innovative efficiencies by using detailed big data,” said Ana Sancho, global payments network manager, treasury services, BNY Mellon. “It’s likely to become a must-have tool for network managers. We all want comprehensive intelligence at our fingertips.”

Based on Swift message flows, business intelligence products and services provide timely, transparent and consolidated ready to use market information about customers’ flows. This data is used by financial institutions to better manage costs and risks, examine market trends, benchmark or detect new product or country opportunities. It is also important in driving customer strategy, ultimately leading to better informed business decisions.

Astrid Thorsen, head of business intelligence solutions at Swift, said analytics were becoming a strategic priority for many financial institutions. “With massive amounts of unstructured data available, many financial institutions want new ways to turn data into meaningful business insights.”

Swift has also announced the Entity Plus Directory, which is designed to help organisations to comply with a number of new regulations. Financial institutions are increasingly required to report counterparty transactions, identify entities, calculate risk exposure and cross-reference data.  Entity Plus enables users to accurately cross-reference multiple identifiers of an entity in real time.

National and international regulatory requirements for transaction reporting require the exact identification of the counterparty, placing a greater need for accurate and high quality entity identifiers. Using data that is updated in real-time through Entity Plus, financial institutions can obtain a consistent view of legal entities. This will help them to meet the entity data requirements of regulations including the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, Dodd-Frank and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II.

Hervé Valentin, head of reference data at Swift, said: “Many of the regulations spawned by the financial crisis place great emphasis on the identification of legal entities, making compliance with regulatory reporting requirements a critical challenge for financial institutions. The introduction of SwiftRef enabled us to deliver accurate and comprehensive reference data to our community and Entity Plus adds another dimension, providing the granular detail that our customers now require to comply with new regulations.”