Turkey’s Akbank to Implement Treasury and Capital Markets Solution

Akbank, a Turkish bank, has signed a deal to invest in powerful cross-asset treasury and capital markets solution from Misys, the global application software and services company. The bank will replace several legacy systems to create a more streamlined transaction flow across front, middle and back office operations, strengthen its ability to roll out new products, and improve operational control and risk monitoring. The bank will implement Misys Summit FT, a treasury and capital markets solution, at its Istanbul head office to move processing of treasury and capital markets transactions, currently running on different systems, to a single STP system, which the bank projects will help to minimize operational risk. A desire to provide new structured products offerings and reduce the time required for marketing new products has also driven Akbank’s decision. Once implemented, Misys Summit FT will support all treasury and capital markets activity including trade capture, limits monitoring and back office accounting operations with a focus on interest rate, equity, foreign exchange and credit products and fixed income instruments. “We are streamlining the way we handle treasury and capital markets transactions to boost straight through processing and offer the best services to customers. This investment in our technology will give us much stronger operational control and risk monitoring, in addition to an ability to roll out new products in a much shorter timeframe, and we hope to reap significant benefits when it is live,” said Remzi Dede, head of treasury operations at Akbank, in a press release. Akbank evaluated several systems before choosing Misys Summit FT, which will be integrated with a third party confirmation matching system, a reporting system and Akbank’s own banking branch systems. The bank will also use Misys’ technology to feed data to the local Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system. The first phase of the project is due to go live in June 2009. “Akbank is a household name in the Turkish market, and I’m confident we will deliver a solution that enables the bank to solidify their leadership in treasury management and capital markets services. Turkey is a key market in Misys’ future plans, and we are very pleased to make our entry with a first-class organization like Akbank, which has a strong vision and clear goals,” said Ahmet Bilgen, Country Manager for Misys, in a press release.