LOG.L Regulatory News (LOG)

27 Mar 2007 15:00

LogicaCMG announced today that First Tennessee Bank has completedits implementation of LogicaCMG's payments solution. The new systembrings improved security, controls, regulatory compliancecapabilities, and a graphical user interface for the bank's corporatecustomers. The system went live in December 2006 after an extendedperiod of conversion and testing. £ First Tennessee, a subsidiary of First Horizon Corp. (NYSE:FHN),is a $37 billion asset institution with the largest share of theretail and commercial banking market in the state of Tennessee. £ "We are very excited about what we can now offer to customers,"said Marilyn Hazzle, who manages the wire transfer department at FirstTennessee. "We will soon have a customer-facing module that enablesour customers to shop for foreign exchange and get live quotes via theInternet. Under the old system, the client would call the bank, andthen one of us would contact a trader who would call New York. Wewould then get back to the customer with a price quote. By that time,the market could have moved in an unfavorable direction. Our newsystem is much less labor-intensive and will be a real competitiveadvantage for us." Tighter compliance, faster reporting speed up customer payments while automation reduces personnel costs £ Hazzle also lauded the system's HOTSCAN module, which increasesproductivity and compliance with anti-money-laundering regulationsthrough automating the scanning and checking of all funds transfersand messages. She said that the system's customized reportingcapabilities and timely notification of completed funds transfers giveher staff increased control and reduced exposure to counterparty risk. £ First Tennessee's international operations department alsointerfaced its letter of credit and collections system to the HOTSCANmodule. This allowed First Tennessee to reduce the technical staffthat had been required to maintain multiple OFAC-type databases. £ "The live exchange rate process also enabled internationaloperations to eliminate a position that supported 'manual' tradingefforts. This improvement went a long way to minimizing costs whilegiving us the ability to handle a potentially larger number oftransactions," said senior vice president Stephanie Russell. £ Patty Wiley, assistant manager for international operations,added, "We've been able to greatly simplify our systems. We no longerhave to call the wire room to see if a transaction has gone through.Instead, we automatically get a faxed advice and a copy of each wirethat has been sent through the Federal Reserve. £ "Our customers have been getting paid faster, too, because we arebatching our wires every half hour. With the previous system, we couldonly do three batches a day," she said. £ Money-Center Payment and Transfer Technologies Coming forMiddle-Market Institutions £ Features and functions available to First Tennessee throughLogicaCMG payments software includes: £ -- Advices - auto generation of advices and notifications £ -- ATR Match - automatic matching of advice to receive and payments £ -- Auto Payments - auto-generated payments daily, weekly, and monthly for specified accounts £ -- CBESS - web-based interface that allows corporate users of LogicaCMG's BESS product to initiate domestic and international wires, FX currency trades and international drafts. Users can also review online their account balances and the status of entered transactions. £ -- Compliance - real-time scanning of payments and messages £ -- Foreign Exchange Conversion - provides real-time FX rates and contract number £ -- Funds Check - real-time funds checking of balances and credit lines £ -- Liquidity Control - manages the Fedwire clearing and Nostro account positions £ -- Telephone Initiated Payments - secure telephone initiated corporate payments, branch payments, and callback approvals £ -- Multi-bank - support of multiple bank entities and FTB affiliates £ -- Accounting Interface - real-time interfaces with bank's accounting systems £ -- Gateways to Fedwire and SWIFT £ LogicaCMG has a lengthy history of leadership in payments andfinancial messaging. Its clients include 40 of the world's top 50banks. More than 150 global banks use LogicaCMG systems. But banks ofall sizes must meet heightening customer demand for efficient andsecure payment mechanisms while responding to increasing pressure fromgovernment regulators concerned with fraud and money laundering. £ "We are seeing more and more regional and second-tier banksevaluating a technology migration to stay competitive and to complywith regulations in the payments arena," noted Karen Roche, presidentof LogicaCMG Financial Services in North America. "Our solutions andinterfaces are scalable for banks of virtually any size and for anytransaction volume. £ "We are proud that First Tennessee, with one of America's besttrack records for customer service and retention, has chosen LogicaCMGfor payments. We look forward to working with them for many years tocome." £ NOTES TO EDITORS £ About First Tennessee £ First Tennessee has the largest business and consumer market sharein Tennessee and one of the highest customer retention rates of anybank in the country. First Tennessee's parent company, First HorizonNational Corp. (NYSE:FHN), has earned recognition as one of thenation's best employers from AARP, Fortune and Working Mothermagazines. The corporation also has been named one of the nation's 100best corporate citizens by CRO magazine. More information can be foundat www.FirstTennessee.com. £ About LogicaCMG £ LogicaCMG is a major international force in IT and businessservices. It employs around 40,000 people across 41 countries.LogicaCMG's focus is on enabling its customers to build and maintainleadership positions using LogicaCMG's deep industry knowledge and itstrack record for successful delivery. The company provides businessconsulting, systems integration and IT and business processoutsourcing across diverse markets including telecoms and media,financial services, energy and utilities, industry, distribution andtransport and the public sector. Headquartered in Europe, LogicaCMG islisted on both the London Stock Exchange and Euronext (Amsterdam)(LSE:LOG; Euronext:LOG) and traded on the Xternal List of the NordicExchange in Stockholm. More information is available atwww.logicacmg.com. Copyright Business Wire 2007