The Saudi British Bank (SABB) hosted a joint conference of SWIFT and HSBC, titled “Gateway to the Financial World” on SWIFT for its corporates in Riyadh recently. The first of its kind event in the local market is seen as a platform for the participants to get themselves acquainted with the best practices and the benefits of the SWIFT. A large number of key clients, industry participants, subject-matter experts and senior members of SABB, HSBC & SWIFT attended the conference. They discussed the latest developments, value additions and propositions offered by the SABB as one of the largest ‘SWIFT for Corporates' service providers in the region. The SWIFT for corporate enables businesses to benefit from a wide variety of financial services that include payments, treasury and security-related payments and reporting being offered by their financial institutions through one single, highly secure, standardised communication platform, as opposed to using multiple channels. The information is also available at http://www.swift.com/corporates/financial_services.htm. SWIFT, a member-owned cooperative, provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 9,700 financial institutions and corporations in 209 countries. The information available at “http://www.swift.com/corporates/standards.htm” recognizes standards of the SWIFT internationally. It continues to extend help in reducing costs in businesses, mitigate risks, increase visibility on cash flows, improve automation and compliance with increasingly complex regulatory environment. It has also brought the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest. The platform plays an important role in achieving the increasing challenges in the global economic climate where corporates are looking at efficient working capital management solutions.
