As the rapidly emerging Middle East financial sector continues to compete in global markets, Orange Business Services continues to deliver innovations in the regional infrastructure to support this drive.

Working closely with the region's banks as well as the wider corporate sector, Orange Business Services' IP networks already link many companies to the SWIFT banking system, ensuring the fast, secure and reliable exchange of data between banks and branches, and corporate offices. Orange Business Services allows also corporations such as ARAMCO, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia, to connect directly with the SWIFT network, bringing speed and agility in support of its business processes.

SWIFT is the industry-owned co-operative supplying secure, standardised messaging services and interface software to nearly 8,300 financial institutions in 208 countries and territories in which it operates. Orange Business Services has been working with SWIFT for more than 15 years.

Orange Business Services currently serves more than 2,000 banks, financial institutions and companies worldwide, including Middle East customers such as EFG Hermes, the Arab world's premier investment banking firm. In Egypt Orange Business Services connects financial institutions to the SWIFT network including the National Bank of Egypt, the Central Bank of Egypt, CIB, and Banque Misr.

Mohammed Gaafar, Middle East Regional SWIFT Manager for Orange Business Services, based in Cairo, says:

'Orange Business Services has considerable experience in financial services within the region, and we are responding to and supporting the rapid development of this sector - and other major organizations - through the development of the SWIFT connectivity we offer.'

'In an increasingly complex multilateral banking environment, large institutions need to exchange data with the assurance of security and reliability, and within the framework of the regulatory requirements. Our managed, secure IP-based networking solutions support the communications needs of organizations like SWIFT and others in the finance industry.'

Orange Business Services supports also 1,300 trading floors in 58 countries, with trading desks and networks. The Orange Business Services' financial solutions portfolio is wide and includes delivery of payment systems, trading platforms, mobility solutions for roaming employees, business continuity services, IP networks, security design, IP telephony and telepresence systems, call centers, messaging, outsourcing, hosting for applications, consultancy expertise, and data center services.