Leesport Financial Taps Metavante

When Leesport Financial decided to change the way it processed information, it had a good reason. The $562 million institution, which offers banking, insurance and wealth management services, needed continuity and a customer-focused system. So last year, it awarded an information processing contract to Metavante, Milwaukee. The new system became operational in April.

In March 2002-a year before its contract with Bisys, its previous processor, was due to expire-Leesport issued an RFP. Out of four vendors, Metavante was selected.

Metavante is providing Leesport with products and services that support financial account processing, electronic funds transfer, electronic banking, and customer relationship management. The customer relationship management system includes data warehousing, profitability, and account analysis. Now Leesport will be able to tailor the system to suit the company's specific needs for continued growth and expansion.

The core of the Metavante processing system is the customer information system, which ties in all the other processes enabling us to give the customer the right experience, said Edward Barrett, chief administrative officer at Wyomissing, Pa.-based Leesport Financial Corp.

Leesport needed a system that would extend beyond banking.

"The insurance company and wealth management division are run on different systems because they are different businesses," said Barrett. "But we needed to gather the customer experience in a data warehouse, which is part of the system. Now, we can look at the total relationship with the customer."

Previously, systems for deposits, loans, and teller were separate. If a customer had both an insurance and a banking relationship, the only way Leesport would know was if an employee had a paper portfolio. The biggest banking customer could have insurance, and no one would see the whole customer picture. "From a business standpoint, we couldn't see the profitability of the customer," Barrett said.

Although the ability to process transactions quickly and at low cost were important in the selection process, Leesport was more interested in the degree to which the information processing system was customer-centric. "We are a community bank, not an international bank," Barrett said. "We wanted products and services that meet our customers' needs-not the IBMs of the world."

The new Metavante system makes it easier for the customer to get information. Previously, an online customer had to perform five tasks to get a response. With the new system, one screen allows a customer to look at the overall relationship, then drill down to individual relationships.

The new system helps avoid data entry errors. If a customer changed an address with the old system, the information had to be inserted separately for each account. Now, a simple administrative step changes the address on all relationships.

"The new system is significantly enhanced, and won't cost anymore than the old system," Barrett said. "And, we're adding a data warehouse we didn't have before."

The system is hosted by Metavante, supplemented by high-powered Intel-based servers, software and connections, all located at the bank's headquarters. Unlike the Bisys system, which was based on a 3270 terminal, the new system is Windows-based, making it easier to point and click, said Barrett.

"The Metavante system is an open system, which allows us the ability to create reports quickly because all customer information is now together in a common file."