Rietumu Banka selects Misys
London, 26th February 2002. Rietumu Banka, one of the most dynamic of Latvia's new breed of banks, has selected Misys International Banking Systems' (Misys) Equation banking solution to replace its existing system and provide the foundation for the bank's expanding operations. Equation will be located at the bank's new Headquarters in Riga and will be linked to its nine other branches across the capital, in addition to branches based in Daugavpils, the second largest city in Latvia, and Liepaja.
Rietumu Banka, first founded in 1992, has adopted international accounting standards and banking practices since its establishment. It is now the fourth largest bank in Latvia in terms of assets, as well as being ranked among the ten largest banks in the Baltic States, according to the Association of Commercial Banks of Latvia. Rietumu Banka's business focuses primarily on the provision of banking services to corporate clients, plus small and medium-sized businesses. It also offers a portfolio of private banking products to high net-worth individuals, including investment advisory services, foreign exchange and securities trading.
To replace its existing system and support the ongoing expansion of its business, at the beginning of 2001 the bank took the decision to search for an international banking solution. In-depth assessments of three different product offerings, from Misys, Temenos and System Access, were carried out over a nine month period, before Rietumu Banka selected Equation as its preferred solution and signed a contract with Misys at the end of November 2001.
Evgeny Ostelis, IT Director of Rietumu Banka comments, "Our choice was determined by a number of factors, one of the most important being that Misys could provide local service and support through its branch in Riga. In addition, Equation has established an impressive track record in the Baltic region, with Krajbanka and Hipoteku Zemes Banka in Latvia, and Sampo Bank in Estonia having already implemented the system."
"Another reason for our selection of Equation was the system's fully-integrated Customer Relationship Management system, plus its Integrator's Technical Package, which will enable us to develop tailored enhancements to Equation that are consistent with the overall design and architecture of the system," he continues. "Misys' international reputation and the scalability of IBM's iSeries eServer (AS/400) processor also had a major influence on our decision."
In addition to its Customer Relationship Management system, Equation will also include applications to support the bank's Foreign Exchange/ Money Market and Commercial Loans transactions. Other components of the bank's Equation solution include the full portfolio of the system's Retail Banking applications, namely Account Services, Retail Deposits and Retail Lending, in addition to Cashier System and Co-sign, the system's automated signature verification package. Equation's Customer Relationship Management system, together with Cashier System and Co-sign, combine to provide a fully integrated branch automation platform, running on the Microsoft Windows NT operating system.
Using Misys' Meridian middleware platform, Equation will be integrated with a number of Rietumu Banka's legacy systems. Equation also will be interfaced to CR2's Bankworld package, which provides a front-end channel delivery system controlling corporate clients' access to a variety of the bank's services, including cash management and internet banking.
Evgeny Ostelis concludes by saying, "Rietumu Banka's overriding aim is to provide its clients with the broadest possible range of banking services through multiple channels, in a manner which is both efficient and cost-effective. We believe that Equation will assist us in achieving this objective."
Notes for Editors:
Equation, one of Misys' core banking solutions, has evolved to become one of the most functionally-rich universal banking solutions currently available. For those banks combining a significant proportion of consumer banking services with wholesale banking activities, Equation offers an extensive range of high-volume retail and consumer banking applications, integrated with a variety of corporate and treasury software modules.
Misys International Banking Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Misys plc, is one of the world's premier suppliers of solutions to the global banking and financial services industry, with annual sales of more than £200m. The company has an extensive network of international branches located in 29 countries around the world and employs over 1,600 staff. The Misys product range includes solutions for wholesale and retail banking, treasury and capital markets, trade finance, private banking and risk management.
For further information, contact:
| Koen Van den Brande | or | Jane Keegan |
| Product Centre Manager | Press & P.R. Officer | |
| Misys International Banking Systems | Misys International Banking Systems | |
| Tel: (01753) 573244 | (01753) 573244 | |
| http://www.misys.com/misys-ibs |
Misys plc, a FTSE-250 company, is one of the world's leading software products suppliers. Misys partners with its customers to deliver outstanding IT solutions to essential industries. The group develops and licences products to the international banking and securities, US healthcare, and UK retail financial services sectors. For the 6 months ended 30 November 2001, Misys reported revenues of £480m and adjusted operating profits (before exceptional items), of £54m. Misys employs over 6,500 people.
