SMA Financial chosen by Raiffeisen International Group

by Richard Kilner

Story link: SMA Financial chosen by Raiffeisen International Group

Today SMA Financial, the UK regional partner of SWIFT, has announced that the SWIFT Hub Project in Romania has been successfully delivered for Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG.

The project involves the migration of 15 subsidiary Network Banks, located throughout Central and Eastern Europe, to the SWIFT Alliance payments infrastructure.

The decision to construct a shared service centre in Romania was taken a year and a half ago on the basis of reducing costs whilst simultaneously enhancing process efficiency.

The initial budget phase commenced in April of last year, with the intention for all 15 banks to migrate within the next 15 months.

By July 2007, seven of the banks had migrated.

The project’s timescale was very aggressive, according to General Manager of CRISP (Centralised Raiffeisen International Services and Payments SRL) Pierre H. Brisse.

Because of this, a reliable and committed supplier was essential, resulting in the selection of SMA for the task.