Kampala — The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has signed up for Richmond Software worth sh1.8b for its foreign reserve management operations.

"There was a need for a pro-active financial management system to keep our operations funded at the lowest costs, minimise financial risks associated with foreign exchange transactions and interest rate movements," Juma Walusimbi, the central bank's spokesman, said.

The new technology streamlines central bank processes by effectively handling reserve management and monetary policy execution in a single system. The Trema suite is accurate and helps to track reserves.

BOU will be the third African central bank to adopt the technology following the Central Bank of Morocco and the South African Reserve Bank.

"The ability to keep technical issues at arms length is the main advantage. Security, which is the major issue for corporate treasuries, is guaranteed. The Application Service Provision offers treasury systems providers a way to access their market segment," Walusimbi said.

The new system also handles a range of high value money market and foreign exchange transactions as well as swaps and bonds.

Terry Beadle, the Trema head of the government sector, said, "Our mid-tier central bank offer is specifically designed to cater for the increased regulatory and performance challenges faced by mid-sized central banks working with limited budgets and resources."

The technology was bought from Trema, a London-based treasury management software vendor.