ING is to replace over 30 existing systems with SunGard's Step (Straight-Through Enterprise Processing) Platform for reconciliation and exception management, under an initiative to centralise operations at the Dutch bank.
SunGard's Step Platform, which is based on Microsoft's .NET framework, provides a set of services for exception processing, transaction research, cash management, and reconciliation. At ING it will provide integration with third party and inhouse systems via standard interfaces including XML, SOAP and Web services.
The SunGard package was chosen after an exhaustive selection process and a successful proof of concept, says André Vanden Camp, ING Europe, functional chief information officer for transaction and private banking.
"We are impressed with SunGard's ability to satisfy all of our requirements for centralised reconciliation and exception processing, and to help us in building the European OPS & IT reconciliation platform," he says. "The solution's ability to handle many different lines of business will enable us to consolidate all of our reconciliation operations across the enterprise, leveraging tighter control in our new Global Competence Centre."
The initiative is part of the ING Financial Services Architecture (IFSA), intended to consolidate operations from across the bank's sites. The first phase of the Step Platform roll-out is already in production within ING Financial Markets.