Maine Bank Opts For Open Solutions

In the tight-knit communities of Maine, where most people still know each other by name, Kennebec Savings Bank focuses on providing personalized banking service to support individuals, self-employed professionals and small-to medium-sized businesses.

Thus, when the bank went looking for a core technology provider, topping its list of requirements was the ability to offer more personalized service and to develop innovative banking applications. Open Solutions, a Glastonbury, Conn.-based core technology provider, filled the bill, according to Mark Johnston, president and CEO at Kennebec Savings Bank. "Above all, Open Solutions' technology platform will give Kennebec the ability to better manage our customer relationships, the true core of our business."

Kennebec Savings Bank will use Open Solutions' The Complete Banking Solution to handle core transactions, financial accounting, loan origination and integration processes.

According to bank officials, selecting Open Solutions' technology will enable the $430 million bank to continue providing customers with high-quality, up-to-date products and services.

Kennebec Savings will also use financial accounting products from Open Solutions' strategic business unit fti/Financial Technologies for accounts payable and general ledger, and will implement Open Solutions' real-time interface for automated teller machines.

The systems will support customer relationship management, interactive marketing, customer self-service and data mining.

Built using a single centralized relational database, The Complete Banking Solution, encompasses Internet banking, cash management, electronic commerce, imaging, financial accounting and loan origination solutions.

Since each bank conducts its business differently, Open Solutions has taken care to build an open, flexible platform, according to Louis Hernandez, Jr. chairman and CEO of Open Solutions. "In designing The Complete Banking Solution, we had both the banks' customers and personnel in mind."

For banks, the openness of the system simplifies the process of adding individual features and applications, whether from Open Solutions or another vendor.

"The Open Solutions core is a sophisticated and complete system that lends itself to bank customization," Hernandez said.

In addition to implementing The Complete Banking Solution, Kennebec Savings is expanding its current practices by adding additional components of Sound Software, Open Solutions' total loan origination solution for community banks.

A PC-based loan automation system, Sound Software mirrors lending procedures and improves the speed and accuracy of processing.

Kennebec plans to use Sound Software to implement consumer loan origination processes within the bank.

Separately, Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal life insurance society, has tapped Open Solutions' The Complete Banking Solution and e-Commerce Banker products to run core data processing and Internet banking at the organization's newly opened thrift, MWABank.

e-Commerce Banker allows customers to access account information, initiate transfers between account and stop payments, make bill payments online and categorize transaction in an online check register for monitoring spending habits and reconciling accounts.

The two products will enable the Rock Island, Ill.- based organization, to maintain closer contact with its 750,000 members, according to Steven J. Ollenburg, president of MWABank.

"We needed a platform that allowed us to offer real-time, multichannel access to our customer base," Ollenburg said.