Bank BNI goes live with latest BANCS solution

One of Indonesias largest retail banks, P.T. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk also known as Bank BNI, has gone live with its new state-of-the art 'BANCS' core banking solution which offers Shariah Banking to BNI customers.

JAKARTA (PRWEB) May 12, 2004 --- One of Indonesias largest retail banks, P.T. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk also known as Bank BNI, has gone live with its new state-of-the art core banking solution.

The new 'BANCS® core banking solution was developed and implemented by Financial Network Services (FNS) of Australia and a team of systems integrators from across South East Asia.

This weeks milestone was achieved in just over 12 months and included complex customisation to provide Shariah Banking which will be available on the new system by June 2004.

FNS Managing Director, Tony Ward, said the project represented more than 3,000 man-days of development by more than 80 FNS staff and contractors from Sydney, Jakarta and Manila plus a team from IBM Global Services, all of whom worked alongside Bank BNI to complete the project.

This collaboration has produced one of the most sophisticated and modern banking solutions in South East Asia including the successful remote development of Shariah Banking by FNSs software development Centre of Excellence in Manila," Mr Ward said.

Bank BNIs Director of Operations, Dr. I. Supomo, praised the considerable efforts of both Bank and supplier staff in achieving the launch, saying that the advanced architecture of the BANCS solution provided BNI with a number of new capabilities.

These included sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM), streamlined work processes brought about by improved branch automation, tighter control over Risk Management capabilities with centralised auditing of all BNI operations from BNIs head office in Jakarta, and the ability to rapidly respond to customer needs by deploying innovative new banking products.

The new BANCS system is operating 24/7 in one of the Banks flagship branches and will be rapidly rolled-out to Bank BNIs branches throughout the greater Jakarta area during May and June. It is anticipated that the Banks entire national network of some 840 Branches, will cut-over over to the new system progressively over the next 8 to 12 months.

Mr Ward said the BANCS project would allow Bank BNI to become more competitive in the Indonesian and Singapore markets if its rumoured partial privatisation went ahead later this year.

The scalability and other benefits of the BANCS solution will also put the bank in a strong position to pursue possible merger plans which would allow the combined entity to achieve even greater economies of scale," Mr Ward said.

The Bank BNI project is just one of several projects being conducted by FNS in the region, which has implemented BANCS across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, South America and Europe, cementing FNSs position as both a leading regional and global supplier of banking solutions.

BANCS has already proved itself as the benchmark integrated banking solution across multi platforms and is a clear leader in its support of customised Shariah and Islamic banking solutions and the regulatory requirements of key Asian countries," Mr Ward said.

About FNS

Financial Network Services Pty Ltd (FNS) is a global leader in providing integrated, flexible and modular solutions for the financial services industry. The company has more than 100 corporate clients in over 35 countries, including some of the worlds leading financial services organisations.

Through its flagship BANCS® banking solutions, FNS has won a reputation for increasing productivity, profits and flexibility while responding rapidly to market demands for new financial products.

FNS is one of a limited number of companies worldwide to hold a Business Application Partnership agreement with IBM and is a Microsoft Certified partner. It is also a key alliance partner with Hewlett Packard, Intel, Oracle and Sun Microsystems in various countries around the world.

FNS is a private company with 10 international offices and some 320 employees around the world. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, the company is majority owned by its founders and staff, with a minority interest held by Australias largest investment bank, Macquarie Bank, through its subsidiary, Macquarie Direct Investments Limited.

FNS has offices in Sydney, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, Santiago and Seoul and also operates through its strategic business partners and leading locally based systems integrators in many other countries. For more information visit: www.fns.com.au.

About BNI

P.T. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (also known as Bank BNI) was initially set up on July 5 1946, as the countrys central bank for the implementation of the Indonesian governments monetary and economic policies. It has since acted as a commercial bank, with its operations directed towards elevating the peoples welfare and building the national economy.

Today, P.T. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk has more than 600 domestic branch offices within Indonesia and 5 overseas branch offices (Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London & New York). It is one of the largest banks in Indonesia and is a household name that is synonymous with its motto of:

Reliable, Solid and Friendly. For more information on BNI visit: http://ptbni.com.sg/.

For further information on FNS contact:

Trevor Builder

Vice President, Corporate Marketing

Financial Network Services

Ph: +61 2 9310 9838

Mob: +61 412 451 219

E-mail:    tbuilder@fns.com.au

Website: www.fns.com.au