Fundtech, a market leader in global transaction banking solutions, today announced that Ecobank, the world's leading pan-African bank, has successfully deployed Global CASHplus, Fundtech's integrated, real-time cross-border payment and cash management system in 30 African countries.
Ecobank began implementation of the innovative Global CASHplus® cash management system with a single-country pilot implementation in June 2011. As a result of an extremely fast, focused and efficient implementation schedule, the bank was able to roll out a unified solution across 30 countries within 24 months. In the 18 months following the launch, the bank saw a 22% increase in customers on the electronic platform and the number of electronic payment and cash management transactions increased by nearly 200 times.
Albert Essien, Deputy Group CEO for Corporate & Investment Banking at Ecobank, comments, "Ecobank set out to develop a cash management system that was flexible enough to accommodate varying local business practices, yet powerful enough to support a high volume of transactions across our entire network. We moved quickly to implement a robust solution that will facilitate cross-border and multi-currency business for our customers, removing many of the traditional bottlenecks in the cash management process."
Sanjay Dalmia, Executive Vice President of Global Cash Management at Fundtech, adds, "The platform is customized to each of the countries it serves in terms of language, currency and regulatory requirements, yet provides a consistent, standardized interface and service. This is something no local or international institution has been able to achieve, nor, in such a remarkably short period of time, which is thanks to our close collaboration with Ecobank."
The powerful new platform, Ecobank OMNI, enables Ecobank's corporate customers to link their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for integrated origination and reconciliation of transactions. Patrick Gutmann, Group Head of Transaction Services at Ecobank, says, "Growing our transaction banking business across Africa is a key objective for the bank. We require a cash management system that is flexible enough to accommodate varying business practices across our netwwork and powerful enough to meet the high volume of transactions that it will support. The implementation of Fundtech's Global CASHplus®, which is customized for us as Ecobank OMNI, is a key strategic step in strengthening our competitiveness across Africa."