Middleburg Believes in Integration

Project integrates core, Web and mortgage systems to increase efficiency.

As with many banks, integration issues are a top priority at Middleburg Financial Corp. (Middleburg, Va., assets: $450 million). Middleburg Financial is the parent company of Middleburg Bank, with six branches.

Thus, Middleburg Financial chose a core systems provider that connects to its Web-banking and mortgage-processing systems.

Last year, the bank installed Silverlake transaction-processing software for financial services companies from Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (Monette, Mo.). At the time, the IT department correctly surmised that there would be integration work to be done. "No core provider will give a bank everything it needs," according to Lisa Kilgour, vice president of operations at Middleburg Financial. "You pick the one that provides the best features, then pick the ancillary solutions."

Middleburg chose Silverlake partially for its ability to link with applications such as Axis Internet Banking software from application service provider Digital Insight Corp. (Calabasas, Calif.) Hosted by Digital Insight, the Axis software sends online transactions to Middleburg Financial's Silverlake system for processing.

Sitting be-tween the two systems is HostBridge software from CCMC Inc. (Altamonte Springs, Fla.). Thus, when a customer performs an online transaction through the Axis Internet Banking software, such as an account inquiry, HostBridge translates the inquiry into a transaction format that Silverlake can recognize. Then, HostBridge translates Silverlake's response back to the Axis Internet Banking software, which finally displays the results to the customer.

The More The Merrier

Another integration challenge came earlier this year when Middleburg Financial acquired a 40 percent stake in Southern Trust Mortgage LLC, a Norfolk, Va.-based lender that closed $869 million in loans in 2002. Southern Trust had been using MorVision, a loan-origination application from Dynatek Inc. (Livonia, Mich.) Middleburg Financial had to find a way to get MorVision's data into Silverlake so it could service the loans. "We didn't want to have to manually input 25 to 75 loans a day," according to Todd Braithwaite, Middleburg Financial's IT manager.

A solution was found in Total Enterprise Data Integration software from Decade Systems Corp. (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) Now, MorVision and Silverlake communicate through a library module that translates MorVision's data format into one understood by Silverlake. Fusing the software has also has enabled Middleburg to combine its own modest mortgage business (with 11 mortgage employees versus Southern Trust's 175) with that of Southern Trust.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in InformationWeek, a sister publication to Bank Systems & Technology, part of the InformationWeek Media Network.

Fasts Facts

Institution: Middleburg Financial Corp. (Middleburg, Va.)

Assets: $450 million

Business Challenge: Integrate a core transaction-processing system with Web-banking and mortgage-processing systems.

Solution: Jack Henry & Associates Inc.'s (Monette, Mo.) Silverlake transaction processing software; Digital Insight Corp.'s (Calabasas, Calif.) Axis Internet Banking software; CCMC Inc.'s (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) Hostbridge transaction translation software.

Key Quote: "No core provider will give a bank everything it needs. You pick the one that provides the best features, then pick the ancillary solutions.