Operations Newsflashes: Southwest Securities to Take on TD Ameritrade Clearing Clients, and more

TD Ameritrade to Transfer Clearing Customers to Southwest Securities

Southwest Securities has entered into an agreement with TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation and the Advanced Clearing division of the company's subsidiary, Ameritrade, to transfer Advanced Clearing's correspondent clients to Southwest Securities. Advanced Clearing has 15 correspondents.

"We are working very closely with TD Ameritrade to ensure a smooth conversion," said Southwest Securities President and CEO William Felder, in a release. "Our goal is to make the transition seamless and transparent for all of the correspondents and their customers."

Southwest Securities provides securities execution and clearing services to more than 200 introducing broker/dealers. The firm offers a platform that streamlines front- and back-office processes and includes cost basis, document imaging, and online statement and confirmation branding features.

Southwest Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of SWS Group, a financial services holding company.

Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Implements Trintech's ReconNET for Internal Controls and Reconciliation Processes Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Division implemented ReconNET, from Trintech Group Plc, to increase visibility and control of internal bank reconciliation processes and to improve efficiencies through automation. The implementation of ReconNET is part of a multi-phase project by Lloyds TSB to ensure compliance, reduce costs and improve performance on bank reconciliations across the enterprise.

Asset Finance Division is part of the Wholesale and International Banking division of the Lloyds TSB Group. Its core business is asset-based lending to the consumer and corporate markets.

"Firstly, we wanted to improve internal controls for our main bank reconciliation process. Against the backdrop of Sarbanes-Oxley and BASEL II requirements, visibility and control were highly important, and we wanted to better understand how our employees were performing. Secondly, we wanted to simplify bank reconciliation processes, and improve accuracy and efficiency," said David Potts, Finance Director, Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Division, in a release. "As a result of having the system in place for our main bank reconciliation process, we have been able to reduce the number of staff involved by 50%, reconcile our accounts on a timely basis, better manage exceptions and improve reporting capabilities."

ReconNET's reconciliation algorithms streamline complex transaction-matching routines that had been entirely manual in the past. Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Division gains the ability to identify exceptions within one business day instead of a week or more. In addition to automating its daily reconciliation processes, Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Division uses ReconNET's research module to research non-matching transactions detected by the system.

Kirchman Partners With SecureWorks to Offer Managed IT Security Services

Kirchman Corp., a Metavante company and provider of core automation banking software, has partnered with SecureWorks to resell their managed IT security services. SecureWorks is a provider of managed IT security services to the financial industry.

As a SecureWorks partner, Kirchman will offer all of SecureWorks' services to their clients, which include network intrusion prevention, vulnerability assessment, phishing prevention and takedown, encrypted email, host intrusion prevention, and spam and virus protection. Clients will also receive reports that outline the number of attacks prevented and filtered by SecureWorks.

"SecureWorks is one of the top security service providers in the country and having their security services as part of our product portfolio is a real value-add," said Rachel Landrum, president, Kirchman, in a release. "We are already providing the market with the most powerful licensed core system technology, and now we can offer the very best in managed security services."

"This agreement offers SecureWorks an excellent channel opportunity, while giving Kirchman access to a very profitable, recurring revenue stream," Mike Cote, president and CEO of SecureWorks, in a release. "Additionally, unlike many other MSSP Channel Programs, we enable our partners to quickly begin offering a proven managed security service on top of their current product lines. This is a turn-key security offering and a real win-win for everyone: Kirchman, their clients and SecureWorks."

Linedata to Deliver FT Interactive Reference Data

Linedata Services is now providing data from FT Interactive Data Europe, part of Interactive Data. The reference data will be available through Linedata Services' Accredited Data Vendor Partner Programme for Icon, the back-office fund management and administration solution. The Accredited Data Vendor Partner Programme provides jointly developed interfaces to data vendors as out of the box solutions that can be deployed with no additional configuration.

Customers of Icon can already opt to take prices, evaluations, FX rates and indices data from FT Interactive Data's FTS portfolio administration service. The new interface now makes FT Interactive Data's reference data also available.