FirstRand chooses Finantix for teller replacement

Issued by FNB
Johannesburg, 10 Jan 2006

Finantix, the leading vendor of process-oriented, client-centric and sales-driven components for financial services organisations, is pleased to announce that FirstRand (South Africa) has adopted Finantix Components for a branch renewal programme including teller replacement.

After a rigorous selection process, First National Bank (FNB), a division of FirstRand, chose Finantix as the solution partner for a strategic branch renewal programme across more than 600 branches in South Africa.

Finantix software will help FNB redesign and streamline teller activities and transform its branches into customer-centric sales and service centres.

FNB`s OS/2-based teller technology is to be replaced by Finantix`s state-of-the-art J2EE solution and framework which will operate in tight integration with the bank`s legacy services. Finantix Components run on a thin-client infrastructure: this will greatly reduce costs and overheads associated with traditional teller environments, while enabling the bank to timely deliver new services as required by its business strategy or customer demand.

Proactive client management will be a key focus of the programme. The branch solution will dynamically provide a comprehensive single view of the bank`s customers and will leverage this information in order to support focused selling activities and to accelerate the processing of transactions and service requests.

FNB also has the option to adopt the Finantix Studio development environment, which works as a fully integrated add-on to Eclipse and enables rapid design and implementation of new functions thereby drastically reducing the cost of software maintenance. Finantix Studio is based on leading-edge standard and techniques - such as model-driven architecture, service orientation and business process management - that dramatically accelerate solution delivery and customisation.

FirstRand

FirstRand was created in April 1998 through the merger of the financial service interests of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited (AAC) and RMB Holdings Limited (RMBH). The major companies involved at the time were the listed entities, First National Bank Holdings of Southern Africa Limited (FNBH) and the Southern Life Association Limited (Southern Life).

Through its ownership of First National Bank, Momentum, Rand Merchant Bank, WesBank and Discovery the Group can operate in almost every area of the financial services arena.

First National Bank

First National Bank (FNB) is the oldest bank in South Africa and traces its origins back to the Eastern Province Bank which was formed in Grahamstown in 1838. Today, FNB trades as a division of First Rand Bank Limited. With more than 600 branches, FNB provides a full range of banking products and services to individuals, businesses, corporates and the public sector.

Finantix

With offices in Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Munich, Singapore and Venice, Finantix provides process-oriented, client-centric, sales-driven financial components for retail and wholesale financial services firms. Finantix offers solutions in the areas of: branch automation, retail advice and financial planning, lending and mortgage origination, financial relationship management, wealth management, bancassurance, business banking, online brokerage and Internet banking.

Leading financial institutions - such as Abbey, Banca Intesa, Bank of China, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Kookmin Bank, Standard Chartered Bank - adopted Finantix solutions to transform their multi-channel delivery processes into a sound orchestration of human skills and system intelligence that increases sales productivity, advice capabilities and client satisfaction.

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