Bank of America Merrill Lynch Launches eBAM Production Success [Professional Services Close – Up]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced it has successfully onboarded its first pilot client into production of a new file- based electronic bank account management (eBAM) system.

According to a release, this automation enables clients to use eBAM as the primary way to deliver requests to their banks to open and close accounts, pull account details and update signers.

The new system delivers messages using the FileAct system from SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Communications. Messages are delivered using International Standards Organization 20022 XML guidelines.

"Providing timely account details directly to our clients using an automated query response method such as eBAM will significantly improve our client experience," said Cindy Murray, head of Global Treasury Product Platforms and eChannels. "We have always been a supporter of multi-bank industry standards solutions. Our membership and leadership in the Common Global Implementation (CGI) eBAM workgroup and the Global Rapid eBAM Adoption Team (GReAT) enabled the cross-bank and vendor collaboration necessary to complete the harmonization required for this implementation."

The client, USI Insurance, went through significant back office process changes and utilized a third-party vendor application.

"Choosing the right eBAM application vendor was critical, but it is also important to understand each bank's capabilities and experience early on," said Nancy Colwell, director of Treasury with USI Insurance. "It became clear that BofA Merrill was well versed in the industry requirements as well as the practical experience necessary to achieve our objectives. The fact that they had already worked with our eBAM vendor through CGI and GReAT greatly improved our experience."

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the marketing name for the global banking and global markets businesses of Bank of America Corp.

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