Bank of Cyprus is to implement Midas-Kapiti International’s (MKI) Equation DBA universal banking solution at its new Australian branch operations. The retail back office system is slated to go online in November when the bank’s existing representative offices in Melbourne and Sydney will be granted a full banking licence and international branch status.
Bank of Cyprus already uses MKI for its treasury solutions, implementing Midas and City Dealer in Cyprus, as well as at its London and Athens branches. At the retail level, the bank currently uses the mainframe-based Systematics package at its head office in Nicosia, and has licensed FiServ’s ICBS product as the platform for its retail banking services in London and Athens. MKI says a local presence and a pledge to operate within a tight deadline helped it win the Australian contract against competition from the incumbents.
Equation is to be installed at Bank of Cyprus’ Australian head office in Melbourne, although the complete range of the system’s retail functionality will also be available to the bank’s other branch outlets based in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. The core system has been configured by the bank’s head office IT personnel, and delivered to Melbourne ready for live operations, when the branch is fully staffed and ready to open in November. The second phase of implementation, covering Equation’s Microsoft Windows NT-based branch automation platform, is due for completion in June 2001.
To support the bank’s retail banking business in Australia, Equation will incorporate applications covering customer relationship management, retail lending, loan origination and retail account services, together with foreign exchange/money market, funds transfer/payments and commercial lending. Cashier System, part of MKI’s branch automation platform, plus Co-Sign for automated signature verification will also be implemented.