Austria’s Raiffeisen International has
deepened its relationship with UK fintech player Misys as the bank
looks to grow market share in Russia. The bank, which has 5 million
retail banking customers in the country, says that Misys’ Midas
Plus 1.4 solution will allow it to grow retail lending in the
market as quickly as possible.

Raiffeisen International has gone live with core banking solution
Midas Plus 1.4 from Misys in Russia, part of the Austrian bank’s
big plans for its Russian franchise (ZAO Raiffeisenbank). With 230
branches, Raiffeisen operates the third-largest foreign-owned
banking network in Russia after UniCredit and Société Générale in
terms of branches, ranks fourth in terms of deposits and sixth in
consumer lending based on first-quarter 2009 results.

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The bank says it has upgraded to the system to
cater for the over five million accounts it now has on its books.
Christoph Schoefboeck, COO of Raiffeisenbank Russia, said in a
statement that the bank had a strong business need to migrate to
Midas Plus “as quickly as possible”, adding that it was looking for
a new system platform to support its future growth.

Raiffeisenbank, which has been in Russia since
1996, has recently benefited from particularly high lending and
funds transfer volumes in the country, and has seen “a significant
increase in retail account activity”.

But bad debts loans are also rising in the
country – in its first-quarter results, published at the end of
May, Raiffeisen International’s overall profit rose 7 percent to
€536 million ($759 million) from Q108, but its Russian franchise
saw profit fall to just €20 million. Provisions for impairment
losses were up 580 percent from €16 million in the first quarter of
2008 to €110 million.

The bank says that Misys’ Midas Plus 1.4 uses
the latest tools and development environments to introduce
significant new capabilities, making it more robust and improving
its ability to scale as the bank grows its operations and increases
volumes of transactions. No financial details have been
disclosed.

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More positive banking
business

For UK-based Misys, the ongoing
relationship with Raiffeisen International is an indication of the
tech firm’s generally more positive banking business. At the end of
July, it announced total group annual revenues of £692 million
($1.1 billion), up 41 percent year-on-year. Separated out, its
banking segment reported revenue up 15 percent to £183 million.

Looking ahead, Misys, which states it has over
1,200 banking customers said it was maintaining its previously
published group financial model targets for the period through to
FY2010, which called for group revenue to grow on a pro-forma
like-for-like basis 5 to 8 percent and to achieve adjusted operated
margins of 18 to 20 percent.

The company has recovered relatively well
since 2006, when its founder and CEO quit after a failed MBO, a
blaze of bad publicity and ambiguous poor business prospects.

In a statement issued with its 2009 annual
figures, the current CEO, Mike Lawrie, said the company had
completed phase one of its transformation programme – referred to
as ‘Get Fit’ – and was now firmly into phase two, ‘Winning
More’.

He said: “Last year… I estimated that this
phase will take around two years to complete, and this timescale
remains appropriate despite the downturn. We remain mindful that we
are operating in unpredictable conditions.

“This is probably the most difficult business
environment for a generation. We are guarding against the downside
while competing hard for growth.”

IT Contracts

RBI Fintech DealWatch
tracks recent major technology contract wins with a focus on the
retail financial services industry as well as fintech mergers and
acquisitions and innovative new product launches

Country

Participants

Type/value

Details

Date

Jordan

Cairo Amman Bank, Temenos

Core banking upgrade

Temenos has announced that Cairo Amman Bank,
one of the largest banks in Jordan, has selected Temenos T24 (T24)
to replace its legacy system and provide a platform from which to
drive growth across the country. With 170 branches and service
centres servicing two million customer accounts, the bank plans to
increase the number of branches in the next five years and to
expand in the region and overseas markets.

13 Aug

Australia

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Core banking upgrade

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has added
A$150 million to its original A$580 million core banking overhaul
budget to cover the inclusion of subsidiaries Auckland Savings Bank
and Bankwest in the project. The extra amount will cover spending
on risk and financial management systems. CBA outlined plans last
April to move core banking operations to the SAP for Banking
platform.

12 Aug

Turkey

Isbank, Experian

Lending decisioning

Isbank has selected Experian to help it to
make faster and more accurate decisions based on the financial risk
of consumers applying for its credit cards and retail loans in
Turkey. Isbank will implement Experian’s New Business SM system, a
fully automated decisioning tool.

11 Aug

France, global

Société Générale

Core banking consolidation

Société Générale is centralising its IT
infrastructure into a new Global Technologies and Services
division. The platform will support all banking functions from
retail, corporate and investment banking.

6 Aug

Papua New Guinea

Bank of South Pacific, Norkom

KYC contract

Papua New Guinea’s Bank of South Pacific
(BSP) has signed for anti-money laundering and customer due
diligence technology from Dublin-based Norkom.

4 Aug

Global

Callataÿ & Wouters, Logica

Partnership

Callataÿ & Wouters has announced the
formalisation of its partnership with Logica. The two companies are
partnering to deliver the Thaler solution, Callataÿ & Wouters’
flagship product. Logica will implement and support Thaler
integration and outsourcing services for banks and other financial
institutions. The collaboration marks the official launch of
Callataÿ & Wouters’ Business Partner Network initiative, a
global partnership programme.

4 Aug

US

IBM, SPSS

Acquisition

IBM is buying Chicago-based predictive
analytics software and services firm SPSS in a cash deal worth
around $1.2 billion.

29 Jul

US

Oracle, GoldenGate

Acquisition

Oracle has agreed a deal to buy GoldenGate, a
leading US-based real-time data integration software provider.
Financial terms were not disclosed.

24 Jul

Germany

RBS WorldPay, Easycash

Acquisition

Point of sale network service provider
Easycash is to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland’s German-based
merchant point-of-sale portfolio.

24 Jul

UK

Ivobank, eGain

Customer service contract

UK-headquartered, online-only bank Ivobank is
to deploy customer service and support software from US-based
knowledge management software vendor eGain.

23 Jul

Nigeria

First Bank of Nigeria, SAS

Security contract

SAS is to supply West Africa’s largest
lender, First Bank of Nigeria, with risk management software to
enable the bank to comply with global compliance trends and
regulations, such as Basel II.

22 Jul

US

Temenos, Metavante

Core banking dispute resolved

Swiss-based core banking supplier Temenos has
resolved a dispute with US-based banking and payments vendor
Metavante, which arose following the April announcement of the
latter’s acquisition by Fidelity National Information Services, to
create the world’s largest provider of integrated payment and
financial core processing services.

22 Jul

Russia

ZAO Raiffeisenbank, Misys

Core banking upgrade

ZAO Raiffeisenbank, the Russian-based
subsidiary of Austria’s RZB Group, has gone live with Misys’ core
banking solution, Midas Plus 1.4 (see main feature).

22 Jul

Nigeria

FirstGlobal Microfinance bank of Nigeria,
Clickatell

M-banking contract

FirstGlobal Microfinance bank of Nigeria has
deployed text banking services from US-based mobile messaging
solutions provider Clickatell. FirstGlobal customers can now opt-in
to receive real-time Clickatell SMS transaction alerts, payment
reminders and SMS fraud alerts directly to their mobile
handset.

21 Jul

India

Syndicate Bank, PayMate

M-banking contract

Indian-based public sector lender Syndicate
Bank has partnered with local mobile technology vendor Paymate to
provide m-banking solutions to its customers across over 2,000
branches.

17 Jul

Angola

Bank Espirito Santo Angola, SmartStream
Technologies

Cash management contract

Bank Espirito Santo Angola (BESA), the
Angolan-based subsidiary of Portugal’s Bank Espirito Santo group,
is to deploy cash and intraday reconciliation software from
UK-headquartered financial transaction management vendor
SmartStream Technologies.

16 Jul

South Africa

Absa, ACI

Payments contract

Barclays’ South African subsidiary Absa has
deployed BASE24-eps, the online payments processing software from
electronic payments software vendor ACI.

16 Jul

Israel

First International Bank of Israel, NICE

Analytics contract

First International Bank of Israel (FIBI),
the country’s fifth largest bank by assets, has deployed analytics
software from NICE, designed to improve cross-sell
opportunities.

16-Jul

UK

Alterian, Techrigy

Acquisition

UK-based marketing software provider Alterian
has acquired Techrigy, a social media monitoring and analytics firm
whose technology enables clients to see what is being said about
their brands on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

15 Jul

Sweden

Handelsbanken, Aastra

Telecoms contract

Handeslbanken has selected Aastra to supply a
new voice communication platform across its 461-strong-Swedish
branch network.

15 Jul

US

SunTrust Banks, Metavante

PoS terminal acquisition

SunTrust Mortgage, the home loans subsidiary
of Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks, has deployed online POS technology
from payments technology vendor Metavante, across its retail and
third-party mortgage operations.

15 Jul

UK

Euronet, epay

Rebranding

European electronic payments distributor
Euronet has rebranded its global prepaid division as epay, complete
with a new brand image. A number of Euronet’s prepaid subsidiaries
already carry the epay name, with the remaining companies, PaySpot,
Telerecarga, Movilcarga, Brodos and Transact set to rebrand.

15 Jul

Asia Pacific

Merchant Solutions, JCB

M-payments contract

Merchant Solutions, the acquiring joint
venture between First Data and Standard Chartered, has signed an
agreement to initiate merchant acquiring for Japanese payment card
network and issuer JCB.

15 Jul

Austria

SIA-SSB, Volksbank

Processing contract

Austrian-based Volksbank International (VBI)
has signed a five-year deal with Italian payment processor SIA-SSB
to provide issuing and acquiring services for the management of
credit and debit cards in nine Central and Eastern European
countries on a single centralised platform.

14 Jul

Azerbaijan

International Bank of Azerbaijan, Oracle

Core banking upgrade

International Bank of Azerbaijan has deployed
Oracle’s Flexcube core banking package, replacing the bank’s
existing Misys Midas system. “About 700,000 of our customers have
already benefited from improved customer service and we are
confident this association will continue to be an enduring and
beneficial one,“ stated Emil Mustafayev, deputy chairman of the
bank.

14 Jul

US

Fiserv, five US credit unions

Account processing contract

Fiserv has signed up five US-based credit
unions to use its Portico, CubicsPlus and Galaxy account processing
technology.

14 Jul

Iraq

AMWAL, Asiacell

Mobile banking contract

Iraqi telecoms operator Asiacell has signed a
deal with AMWAL, a consortium of Iraqi private banks, to promote
mobile banking services, including interbank transfers, bill
settlement and balance checks.

13 Jul

US

Park Bank, Metavante

Core banking contract renewal

Wisconsin-based community lender, Park Bank,
has renewed its core banking technology contract with Metavante,
via a multi-services agreement.

10 Jul

Hong Kong

Sino Payments, Wincor-Nixdorf

Card processing contract

Asia-Pacific payment processor Sino Payments
has agreed a deal with German-based ATM manufacturer Wincor-Nixdorf
for the provision of Sino Payments’ internet protocol card
processing system to retail clients in Hong Kong.

8 Jul

The Netherlands

ING, Strands

Social benchmarking contract

Dutch bank ING is to deploy personal
financial management technology from US-based social benchmarking
company Strands. BBVA was the first bank to implement Strands’
technology last November, with the launch of its Tú Cuentas (You
Count) service

7 Jul

US

American Express, EDS

Outsourcing contract

American Express has agreed a five year
technology services contract deal with HP subsidiary EDS. EDS will
also provide on-site services for about 60,000 Amex staff in more
than 130 countries.

6 Jul

Source: RBI