Standard Chartered Bank has launched a new cash management service for corporate and institutional clients in the UAE . Client Account Services (CAS ) is an innovative, web-based solution designed for organisations to manage customer funds. This is a first-of-its-kind solution, says Standard Chartered Bank, and it enables clients to open downstream customer bank accounts online.
CAS can be used by a variety of sectors, including securities brokers and portfolio managers, and is said “to allow users to administer and segregate downstream customer bank accounts with greater efficiency, visibility and security”.
“During the recent financial crisis, regulators and end-customers were demanding more cash management transparency and increased protection for customer’s funds,” said Haytham El-Maayergi, head of transactional banking at Standard Chartered in the UAE . “There is also a rising need across finance, legal and property sectors to segregate individual customer’s funds from being co-mingled with one another or with the company’s own operating funds.”
Offered through the bank’s electronic banking channel, Straight2Bank, users can immediately arrange for collection and payment from individual customers via the newly created bank accounts (subaccounts) and obtain realtime account information on all accounts. This enables customers “to accelerate their business transactions, make timely decisions for potential investments and offers them increased flexibility to make urgent, time-sensitive transactions”.
The service is also said to help cut operating costs by reducing manual reconciliation inaccuracies and errors. Internal fraud and compliance risks are also significantly reduced due to greater visibility of fund movement combined with enhanced control over individual customer’s funds in segregated bank accounts.
“Client Account Services is a strategic tool which not only benefits our clients with unparalleled efficiency and security but also enables them to improve their customer and supplier interaction with greater transparency and responsiveness, said El- Maayergi.