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To give corporate customers insight into the readiness of their banking partners, and allow them to realise fully the benefits of their SWIFT connection, SWIFT has created the bank readiness certification programme. Certification helps banks prepare to participate in the SWIFT for Corporates programme and also offers corporate customers a clear view on the SWIFT capabilities of their banking partners.

In 2010, a survey carried out by SWIFT highlighted difficulties for corporates in determining which banks offer which SWIFT capabilities.  Another finding was that certain countries are not well covered.

To address these challenges, SWIFT worked with the Corporate Advisory Group (CAG) to create the certification programme.

"Working with SWIFT on this initiative has not only allowed us to address corporates' key concerns but also to give banks a clear course of action to increase efficiencies in their offering for their corporate customers," says Marcus Treacher, Chairman, Corporate Advisory Group (CAG) and Head of e-commerce, Global Transaction Banking, HSBC.

The bank readiness certification programme was launched in January 2011 and take-up of the certification process has been very encouraging.

"We already have 14 banking groups certified and many are currently in the qualification process," comments Elie Lasker, Head of Corporate Market, SWIFT. "The keen interest in our programme shows banks' commitment to provide quality services for their corporate customers."

The 14 banks certified are BBVA, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citibank N.A., Deutsche Bank, Erste Group Bank AG, HSBC, ING Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Nordea Bank AB, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Royal Bank of Canada, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS AG.

Subscription to the certification programme is straightforward, requiring compliance with a clear set of mandatory and optional criteria.

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