SWIFT, a global provider of financial messaging services has announced that Miami-based Union Credit Bank, an independent financial institution, has joined its global community of close to 9,000 financial institutions.
Union Credit Bank is connecting to SWIFT’s messaging network via Alliance Lite, an internet-based service that enables corporates and small financial institutions to link up.
Fernando Capablanca, president and CEO at Union Credit Bank, said: “SWIFT’s Alliance Lite will help us grow our business and get into other areas that traditionally would have been challenging for us. As a result, we can now run our international payment transactions over SWIFT, which will be faster and more secure as well as grow our trade finance business by allowing us to expand our international correspondent banks network.”
Jacob Aruldhas, chief technology officer at ECS Financials, said: “With the launch of Alliance Lite, SWIFT has made it easier, faster and cost effective for smaller financial institutions to connect to SWIFTNet. As a provider of transaction processing solutions, we are delighted at this progress, especially as IMS solutions can seamlessly integrate with Alliance Lite and support all message types, adding more value in the process for our joint customers.”
David Pryce, managing director of Americas at SWIFT, said: “Extending our reach to smaller financial institutions is a big focus for SWIFT and Alliance Lite is a driving factor of this endeavor. With fast, easy and cost effective access to SWIFT, smaller financial institutions can maintain a competitive edge in today’s challenging market by offering customers additional services, such as trade financing and international payments”
