Würth Finance has one of the first payment factory solutions which uses not only integrated, direct SWIFT connectivity, but also fully implements SEPA rules and messaging standards. It is a very future-driven and global approach in terms of standardisation and automation. Würth Finance has corporate access to SWIFT via a Member Administered Closed User Group (MA-CUG) provided by UniCredit among others.

With the implementation of SWIFTNet complete, Würth Finance decided to further develop the Group’s payment factory, to streamline bank communication by reducing the number of proprietary banking systems. The aim here was to improve straight through processing (STP) and to standardise the different payment formats by using SWIFT. But until SEPA was launched, there was no common standard available and the company could not fully achieve the goals and benefits expected.

Daniel Ochsner, Head of Central Settlement, Würth Finance International, explains, “This is why we decided to implement SEPA and to use the newly launched Bank Communication Management and Integration Package for SWIFT solutions from SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG. The Bank Communication Management component enables Würth Finance to link the ERP system directly to all relationship banks through SWIFTNet via one single interface and without costly and complex third party middleware solutions.

The full integration of SEPA XML messaging from the SAP ERP system, including bank communication management via SWIFT FileAct connectivity to UniCredit SEPA payments engine, offers Würth considerable advantages. Euro payments are processed by UniCredit and the bank’s SEPA payment engine. SEPA instructions which do not fulfil the SEPA rules, or where the beneficiary bank is not yet SEPA compliant, are automatically forwarded into UniCredit’s foreign payments processing routine. Therefore, Würth does not have to deal with payment file rejects which contain non-SEPA compliant instructions.

Non-euro payment instructions are converted into respective local formats and forwarded to the designated member bank of UniCredit for execution in several European countries and currencies.

Würth has seen a number of benefits from this solution, including:

• Easy and flexible management of payment runs in the SAP environment.

• Payments authorisation process is fully integrated into the SAP system.

• Global and multi-bank flexibility through working with SWIFT corporate access connectivity, for both treasury-related and mass payments.

Furthermore, Würth Finance has been able to:

• Close 12 euro bank accounts in 12 countries.

• Reduce bank fees by approximately 50%.

• Eliminate eight proprietary e-banking systems and reduced the IT support needed.

• Save approximately one hour in bulk payment processing time each day.

• Increase payments security and quality by avoiding manual payment entry.

• Increase the stability of the payment process and system by using SWIFTNet.

“We decided to host the necessary infrastructure and software for the SWIFT connection in-house and relied on the close co-operation of our partners – UniCredit, SAP, SWIFT service provider Syntesys and SWIFT Switzerland – for the implementation of the different components of the solution,” says Ochsner.