USi Elected to BITS’ Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program Steering Committee

USi, the largest independent Application Service Provider (ASP) and a premier provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), today announced that it has earned a seat on the Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program’s Steering Committee, assisting the financial services industry in risk management.

Annapolis, MD (PRWEB) August 26, 2006 -- USi, the largest independent Application Service Provider (ASP) and a premier provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), today announced that it has earned a seat on the Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program’s Steering Committee, becoming only the second service provider elected to the committee which includes several national financial institutions.

The Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program was introduced in February 2006, creating objective, consistent reporting on service provider security to be shared among participating financial institutions. The Program has since been praised for raising the bar on financial services security while introducing major efficiencies in the assessment process. The Program’s work allows reports on service provider security testing to be shared among participating financial institutions, providing one-stop assessments of service providers.

“Our clients face an ever-growing burden of complex requirements and regulations, and our work with the Shared Assessments Program is one way we can help our clients ensure that our industry is meeting their needs,” said Josie Ollinger, USi’s Security Audits and Compliance Manager and USi’s representative to the steering committee. “We are committed to comprehensive, best-practice risk management, audit procedures, and regulatory compliance for ourselves and for our clients,” she added.

USi has been a member of the Shared Assessments Program’s working group since March and has helped develop criteria for new assessments. Based on its contributions to the development of the program, USi was selected, through a democratic election of Shared Assessment Program members, for a seat on the steering committee.

“Financial institutions are leveraging the Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program to help assure their service providers meet rigorous industry standards,” said Catherine A. Allen, CEO of BITS. “As a key service provider to the financial services industry, USi serves a critical role on the Steering Committee.”

USi’s experience delivering hosted applications to more than 150 clients has enabled it to address a variety of risk management needs for the financial services industry including regulatory compliance, data privacy, user provisioning, access controls, and auditing. Today USi has gained momentum as the choice of financial services organizations by helping its clients meet compliance standards, as well as by reducing time-to-market, operating costs, and inefficiencies. More than 25 percent of the company’s revenue comes from leading banking and insurance clients.

In addition to managed application hosting for large scale enterprise applications such as Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Siebel, USi developed, and currently manages and hosts, more than 20 eCommerce on-line credit card application Web sites –– including some of the nation’s largest such operations –– with a proven track record for security and consistently meeting clients’ eBusiness requirements for affinity marketing, rapid deployment and flexibility.

The Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program was created by BITS, a nonprofit, CEO-driven consortium of 100 of the largest financial institutions in the US and was introduced in February 2006. The Shared Assessments Program is administered by The Santa Fe Group, a strategic consulting company to leading financial institutions.

For further information on USi services and solutions for the financial services industry, including risk management, please visit: http://www.usi.net/markets.aspx?id=131&mtid=12&mtt=4&mid=6.

About BITS

BITS (www.bitsinfo.org) was created in 1996 to foster the growth and development of electronic financial services and e-commerce for the benefit of financial institutions and their customers. A nonprofit industry consortium that shares membership with The Financial Services Roundtable, BITS seeks to sustain consumer confidence and trust by ensuring the security, privacy and integrity of financial transactions.

About USi

USi, the largest independent Application Service Provider (ASP) and a premier provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), delivers application outsourcing, remote management, professional services, ISV enablement, eBusiness development and hosting, and information security and risk management services to more than 150 world-class organizations in over 30 countries. USi’s clients have access to a broad, diversified portfolio of service offerings, including: Ariba®, IBM®WebSphere®, MarketLive®, Microsoft®, Oracle®, PeopleSoft®, and Siebel®, as well as eCommerce solutions developed and delivered by USi. USi’s TopLineISVTM program gives Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) the immediate advantage of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) by delivering their software to a larger client base through USi’s hosted model. For more information, visit www.usi.net.

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