BNY Mellon is expanding its cash-management solutions by tacking on cross-currency sweeps, allowing clients with cash holdings in multiple currency accounts to concentrate them into their preferred base currency. The automated liquidity-management tool was launched today and can help reduce internal cash management costs and risks.

“Sweeping” refers to the process of moving cash balances from one account to another. When the balances are held in different currencies, conversion demands can tack on multiple steps to the process.

Without access to automated solutions, customers execute such movements through multiple manual processes, thereby introducing risk into the treasury and cash management functions due to the volatility of foreign exchange markets. Major banks, like the $3 trillion JPMorgan Chase and the $1.6 trillion Citi, already offer automated cross-currency sweep solutions.

“Clients proactively define how these sweeps are executed based on required time and frequency relative to their own unique objectives. These sweeps settle in near real time,” Greg Malosh, global liquidity product head for BNY Mellon Treasury Services, told Bank Automation News.

The $2.2 trillion investment bank’s development of the product was spurred by client needs, Malosh said, adding that many have been “increasingly focused” on realizing a consolidated and centralized cash position while minimizing the impact of negative interest rate environments prevalent in certain countries and regions.

BNY Mellon is currently piloting cross-currency sweeps with several clients, including fintechs, financial institutions, multinational corporates and fund administrators, the bank said in a statement. The sweeps are available to use starting today. Malosh declined to specify the clients with whom BNY Mellon is piloting the product.

The offering will be available for U.S. dollar, British pound sterling, euro, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc, transactions with the aim to extend the capabilities to include Australian dollar and Japanese yen in the future.

“Our aim is to augment these solutions further in the future by having the solutions propose the rules and configurations, based on how each unique client is structured,” Malosh said. He added that the solution helps clients cut down on time consumed in manual processes, and while the savings vary from user to user, the solution “not only reduces potentially costly overdrafts, but also improves overall balance utilization within an active treasury management process.”