Press Releases
Bridge Bank Goes Live with SunGard’s Sierra for FX Trading and Accounting
September 2, 2009 — New York
Bridge Bank, a full-service professional business bank headquartered in the Silicon Valley, has gone live with SunGard’s Sierra, a solution for FX trading delivered on an ASP (application service provider) basis. The solution was implemented to help Bridge Bank streamline operations in its growing international banking division, which provides the bank’s customers with foreign exchange, trade and global cash management services.
Agile banks such as Bridge Bank are increasingly looking for sophisticated technology systems to help manage their FX operations - helping them to better serve their clients. These systems need to be scalable to support volume increases, provide connectivity to liquidity platforms, and give a consolidated view of positions and risk in real-time. As its clients’ volumes of foreign currency payments and receipts have increased, Bridge Bank has been able to use Sierra to help streamline its foreign currency processing. The Sierra solution has also helped the bank improve the efficiency of its internal processes.
SunGard’s Sierra can also integrate with the bank’s external systems, a requirement for true straight-through processing. Sierra is linked to Bridge Bank’s Wire request system, SWIFT gateway, trading platforms and core banking system, helping to provide a seamless operational workflow by removing redundant work in multiple systems. Using the solution, Bridge Bank can control its FX cash trading from front-to-back in a single solution, helping to reduce operational risk while increasing control.
John Peckham, senior vice president and information systems manager at Bridge Bank, said: "To compete in a shifting global market, we need to ensure that our IT infrastructure is as cost-effective and as operationally efficient as possible. Using SunGard Sierra’s ASP offering for our international banking business we are able to leverage proven, functionally rich technology. As FX volumes and market volatility continue to grow, there is much more incentive to reduce trade processing costs - SunGard’s Sierra offers us a scalable, cost-effective solution that will grow with our business as and when required.”
Jim Dennelly, senior vice president at SunGard’s Sierra business unit,said, “We believe that providing Sierra to Bridge Bank on an ASP basis has enhanced its business potential by taking away the need for expensive resources and maintenance to support an in-house or licensed solution. Rolling out a single integrated solution to cover trading and processing in the FX market also helps reduce total cost of ownership and can take away the headaches that are associated with having to manage multiple systems.”
About Bridge Bank, N.A.
Bridge Bank, N.A. is Silicon Valley's full-service professional business bank. The Bank is dedicated to meeting the financial needs of small, middle-market, and emerging technology businesses. Bridge Bank provides its clients with a comprehensive package of business banking solutions delivered through experienced, professional bankers. Visit Bridge Bank on the web at www.bridgebank.com.
About Sierra
SunGard’s Sierra is an end-to-end trading solution that provides real-time connectivity to multiple trading partners; P&L, position keeping, risk, margin and cash management; streamlined processing capabilities; and capital markets accounting. Sierra is designed to meet the needs of financial institutions of varying sizes and levels of complexity, from two user hedge funds to global banks with the high volume, global trading operations. Sierra is available either in-house or on an ASP basis.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries.
SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.
With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 435 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented six times. For more information, please visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.
*January 2009 Technology Vendors Financial Database Tracker http://www.datamonitor.com
Trademark Information: SunGard, the SunGard logo and Sierra are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.