International Bytes

Banca Popolare de Milano (BPM) has selected Jacada Ltd.'s Jacada Integrator to provide legacy integration for its Multi-Channel Banking System,

Multi-Channel Banking System is a project that consolidates all banking and financial applications into a unified platform. Jacada Integrator will be the primary connection between the bank's legacy applications and the IBM WebSphere e-commerce front-end that will serve as the main interface for over 10,000 internal and external users, including customers and employees.

"Jacada Integrator gives us a powerful integration tool for unlocking the data in our legacy systems and making our consolidated Multi-Channel Banking System a reality," says Clive Whincup, CIO at BPM. "Tactically, the Jacada solution is a rapid deployment mechanism that solves our immediate integration needs, but on a strategic level, Jacada Integrator provides the architectural flexibility required for future integration projects."

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AFFIN Bank, Malaysia, has ordered a CRM solution from S1 Corporation, Atlanta, that will provide AFFIN Bank with advanced CRM tools for its telephone banking channel thereby enabling its agents to view customer account information, handle and track customer complaints and deliver enhanced cross-and up-selling.

S1 will provide AFFIN Bank with a fully integrated contact center environment to deliver increased revenue opportunities, additional banking services and improved customer cross-selling. An S1 CRM solution focuses on three areas: traditional CRM functionality, customer information management through the storing of both financial and non-financial information and delivery across all channels where employees and employers interact.

"Selecting S1 Support Center to power our call center is a key decision in our drive to streamline AFFIN Bank's sales, marketing and customer support processes and help increase our sales revenue while reducing operational costs," says Mohd Fuad Ibrahim, first vice president of AFFIN Bank. "It's important for AFFIN Bank to have a CRM solution that can be installed quickly and easily- allowing us to take early advantage of the business benefits that S1 Support Center provides. S1's multi-channel flexibility means that we now have a CRM approach that can handle channel developments on how customers want to bank, giving us a powerful platform for developing new products and services to address this opportunity."

AFFIN Bank provides banking and financial services to the Malaysian retail and enterprise-banking sector.

S1 provides enterprise software solutions to more than 3,800 banks, insurance providers and investment firms.

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Deutsche Bank has become the first foreign bank to be allowed to transfer money internationally with China Post, the state post bureau of the People's Republic of China.

China Post will connect to the electronic payment network called Eurogiro, which is owned by worldwide post office agencies and enables money orders to be sent between postal agencies. The Eurogiro link between China Post and Deutsche Bank will be running by third quarter of 2002 and the first phase of the project will focus on United State Dollar remittances.

"Working with China Post offers us the opportunity to demonstrate our state-of-the-art solutions as well as Deutsche Bank's commitment to expand our capabilities in order to accommodate the needs of our diverse client base. We look forward to working closely with China Post and enhancing the Bank's case management profile in China," said John Ball, head of sales for Deutsche Bank's Global Cash Management.

Deutsche Bank, Germany, focuses on corporate banking and securities, transaction banking, asset management and private wealth management.

China Post is a vice-ministry level government agency with a reporting line to the Ministry of Information Industry.

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Fox-Pitt, Kelton Limited (FPK), an investment bank specializing in financial services, has gone live with an ISO 5022 messaging solution created by HelioGraph, a straight through processing and financial messaging specialist.

Message Workstation has helped reduce FPK's trading risks by giving the brokers a single point from which it can monitor all the messages in the settlement process. The Heliograph solution has allowed FPK to minimize the time the company spends on technology issues. The software allows non-technical staff to configure complex mappings workflows and rules.

"We have been able to concentrate our core business and not waste our time trying to become SWIFT specialists," said Sumati Kumar, director of operations at FPK.