In other SIBOS news, cyber-crime is heating up for the ANZ region, and SmartStream debuts a digital payment service.
SWIFT and Microsoft Join Forces for a POC
Software giant Microsoft and financial messaging cooperative SWIFT are taking a major step forward in making Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service the host for native payments, officials announced at SWIFT’s SIBOS conference underway this week in Sydney, Australia.
The two companies acknowledged that they have been working on a proof of concept (POC) effort to test whether SWIFT’s infrastructure could become a cloud native environment that would facilitate payment transfers via Microsoft Azure.
The hope is that SWIFT’s services in the Azure cloud realm would work for operations at banks and other firms that need secure and efficient systems for payments. In fact, the treasury department at Microsoft is the first user for the POC as that group oversees $150 billion in assets and supports over $400 billion per year in SWIFT based payments that support operations in over 190 countries and provide just-in-time cash management on a global basis, officials say.
For the Microsoft Treasury department POC, the process begins with the validation of a wire instruction via machine learning algorithms residing in the Azure environment. After validation, the wire instructions are transported to SWIFT via Microsoft’s cloud-based deployment of the SWIFT infrastructure, which then messages the financial services firm that is the ultimate destination. After the firm acts upon the wire instruction, a confirmation is sent back to the Microsoft environment.
Once elevated to the cloud, the combination could take on additional business logic, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence capabilities
“I think this is a significant step forward for the payments industry. This provides increased business agility, security, compliance and performant system for any business team,” says George Zinn, CVP and Microsoft Treasurer, in a statement.
The joint effort should serve as a demonstration of “the potential of the cloud in improving back-office operational efficiency,” according to a prepared statement from Arnaud Boulnois, head of customer platforms at SWIFT. “SWIFT continually seeks to reduce and remove friction and eliminate operational inefficiencies within the financial services payment ecosystem.”
Cyber-Crime Attacks Upon ANZ Firms Are Up: Report
Firms in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) have seen a rise in cyber-attacks upon them, which is happening at the same time as the cyber-crime emanating from this area is rising, according to a report that LexisNexis Risk Solutions released at SIBOS.
Officials say the report is based on statistics of actual cyber-crime attacks “originating to and from the ANZ region, during April to June 2018,” and were detected by the Digital Identity Network from ThreatMetrix, a LexisNexis Risk Solutions company. The network reviewed more than 81 million ANZ transactions, officials add.
“Out of the 81 million ANZ transactions analyzed, more than 16 million bot attacks occurred in the region, a 33 per cent increase when compared to Q1 data,” according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “This indicates a ramping up of cybercrime in ANZ and perhaps coincides with the advent of the New Payments Platform (NPP).” The NPP is intended to spur payment innovations for Australian consumers, businesses and institutions.
Oddly enough, the Network search also revealed “that at 138 percent the growth in the percentage of financial services attacks originating from ANZ is higher than any other region around the world,” according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
“Criminals are targeting financial institutions where they are weakest — their customers,” says Thomas C. Brown, senior vice president, U.S. Commercial markets and global market development, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, in a statement. “if a bank customer’s identity has been spoofed, the likelihood of fraudsters or illicit financiers gaining access to bank systems to conduct account takeover or account login attacks or money laundering is high.”
SmartStream Debuts TLM Aurora
In time for SIBOS, SmartStream Technologies, a financial transaction systems and services solutions provider, has launched TLM Aurora, the next generation for the Corona reconciliation platform, officials say.
The first TLM Aurora module will “support the new industry standards in the digital payments world, by providing connectors to SWIFT GPI, RTGS, as well as Blockchain based networks, allowing for real-time operational control, proactive exception management and low TCO [total cost of ownership],” officials says.
“As transactions increase in variability, velocity and volume, the need for scalable, real-time, integrated reconciliations is greater than ever,” according to a statement from the vendor. “TLM Aurora supports organizations in performing operations such as SWIFT and SEPA transfers, mobile, cash and card payments, digital currencies, settlements and reconciliations.”
Using the TLM View analytics layer, the new offering facilitates “real-time MIS and in-depth reporting to the transaction level,” officials say. The integrated trade process management capabilities can help asset managers “manage their multi-class trade operations both internally and externally,” officials add.
“TLM Aurora has been discussed with several banks and the need to focus on data is key to intuitively leverage data discovery, data modelling and data simulation. Additionally, the importance of liquidity management, reporting to the regulators and future cash flows are critical to any bank on a daily basis,” says Haytham Kaddoura, CEO for SmartStream, in a statement.
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